Saving
by bonbonpich
Summary: RikuSora. A Nobody-vampire Riku was tired of his immortal life and was about to end it all, was unwillingly saved by Sora. Riku was led to the light in Sora, but Organization XIII schemed to use Sora to turn Riku back into darkness.
1. Ch 1 Saving

**Saving Chapter 1: Saving**

**By:** BonBonPich

**Full Summary**: A Nobody-vampire Riku was tired of his immortal life and was about to burn himself under the sun, was unwillingly saved by the mortal Sora. Riku was led to the light within Sora. While they started to remember their prior encounter years ago, Riku's darkness began to take its toll on Sora.

Meanwhile, Riku was forced with a heavy burden to save his race and the worlds from Organization XIII, who wished to overthrow the original Nobodies' master. Thinking it would be best, he parted from Sora. But Sora was determined to find Riku even if it meant going to the ends of the world.

**Main:** RikuxSora. **Side:** AxelxRoxas. **Slight: **RoxasxSora (brotherly, Roxas's got this brother complex thingy).

**Disclaimers:** KH belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. Lyric of "Saving" belongs to the band 13th Senses.

**Note: **Review, please!

Revised 07/11/08 with the help of Midnight Forever

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X

_I see so little time,_

_My eyes are crossed, my hands are tied,_

_All I want to do is that great thing,_

_I never see a passer-by,_

_My skin is cold; it's turned to ice,_

_And every thing I do, I want leaving me._

X

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The earlier tranquility had faded and was replaced by the sound of the early birds chirping as they flocked above the sky. The vast space above gradually changed from absence of color to the hue of dark orange, and into a brighter one. As always, the sound of the waves was audible, as they had been throughout his entired ordeal.

A silver-haired figure, clad in a black trench coat, sat at the base of the bent paopu tree, on the smaller land mass of the remote island that provided a perfect view of the sunrise. His oceanic green eyes glanced ahead to the coming dawn.

He had heard about the beauty of sunrise at Destiny Island but that wasn't the reason he was there. He just came, feeling as if something had drawn him to the island. It could have been anything, but he didn't bother to give it that much thought. It didn't matter.

He sighed.

He was tired of everything and anything.

The dawn would eventually come and Riku hoped it would be the last thing he saw before he turned into ashes, freeing himself from his immortal life.

_'Soon…'_

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From the small remote Island, the ocean led to the main island which was the small town of Destiny where citizens lived.

Sora, one of the residents, had never been a morning person. It was a surprise even to him when he suddenly woke up earlier than usual. Moreover, a sudden thought dawned on him.

He wanted to go to the play island, now. He didn't know why it had occurred to him, it just did. That was the way he always was, he never made plans, and always did things as he pleased.

The brunet boy swung himself off the bed and stretched up, glancing out the window and noting that he could make it in time to go the Island before dawn came. He ran through his morning ritual quietly so as not to wake his twin brother, who was asleep in the occupied room with him.

He left a note for his brother, saying that he'd be at school by eight in the morning. He picked up some breakfast and his pre-made lunchbox and left the house.

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Inhaling the scent of the ocean, a smile was plastered on Sora's face as he tied up his boat to the dock. After making sure his stuff would be fine by itself, he advanced onto the remote Island.

There was no one there, as he had expected.

Strange as it might seem, Destiny Island was a perfect place for everyone, but it seemed like it couldn't become one of the tourist attractions. With no ferry or anything for public transportation, the only people who made their way over there were Sora and his friends. They regularly rowed to the island in small boats they owned. The small island was practically theirs as they claimed it to be.

Sora reached the shack, which was located in the middle of the land. Inside the shack, the stairs led to the higher ground where a smaller land mass was situated, facing directly to the horizon.

When the brunet crossed the wooden bridge and came to the landmass, he blinked as he spotted a figure sitting at the base of the Paopu Tree. He studied the figure for a short while and made out that it was a boy, probably a little older than him considering his height.

He came closer to the figure; the other boy obviously wasn't aware of his presence.

At first thought, Sora was thinking about going on and greeting the boy, but when he observed the boy's features, he decided against it. Despite how open he was, he understood and respected people's privacy. So Sora merely stayed behind a paopu tree where the other wouldn't see him.

Then Sora stole another glance at the boy. It was dark, but the coming dawn had provided him enough light just to see the boy's gloomy features, contrasting to his ethereally silver hair.

_'Why does he look so sad?" _Sora crossed his arms over his chest and turned to the side, contemplating. _'Maybe I should start a conversation with him after all, just to see if he's ok."_

That was when he noticed that a part of the bright, round shape of the sun began to peek itself above the horizon, casting a soft orange light over the Island. He paused in his place and looked at the scene instead.

While admiring the beauty of nature, something strange took place.

"Unn…urh." The strange sound caused him to look in the direction of the boy clad in black, and realize that it was him that was emitting the pained sound.

A worried frown was set in place as he jogged up to the other, now seeing the other boy clearer. He was curled up, breathing heavily, and Sora now saw the small amount of smoke that emitted from the silver-haired boy's clothes which was covering most of his skin. Sora could see his face, skin gradually turning from milky white to blistered red. _'What the…?'_ His frown deepened as he bent down. "Hey, are you all right?"

The boy shot up, staring with wide eyes at the brunet, seemingly shocked at the other's presence. That was when Sora noticed how unearthly the person in front of him was, with such oceanic green eyes, silky silver-hair, and pale skin which continued to fade into red and black. But he couldn't have cared less about those unearthly features at this time.

"Go away," the silver-haired boy demanded.

Seeing the other boy was obviously in pain, which he couldn't yet understand what the cause of it was, Sora was anything but compliant. He reached and put a hand on the boy's shaking shoulder. "But you don't look so good-"

"I said go away!" The silver-haired boy cut him off, shoving the brunet away. For a moment he fixed a glare on Sora, as if willing him to leave that very instant. Then he turned away from Sora and went back to his own agonizing pain. His skin started to burn even more.

Sora couldn't grasp what was going on, but he thought quickly. _'He seemed fine a moment ago. But when…' _His blue eyes snapped in realization as he turned towards the ocean and the horizon. _'…the sunlight!' _

The boy in black fought with his heavy breath. _'I didn't know it would hurt this much.'_ He had never experienced such pain before, but his mind was made up. No pain could turn him away from what he was about to do. He felt weak as his life slowly drained away.

A small smile crept on his lips. _'Let it all be done…'_

But then he was caught off guard as a hand pulled him up. He looked up again and saw the other boy, grabbing his hand and encircling it around his neck. The taller boy was all but shocked that the boy was still there.

"Hold on!" Before the silver-haired boy could say anything more, Sora was already hurling him onto his back with one swift motion and rushing to the shack across the wooden bridge.

It had all been too soon. The sunlight had caused his body to weaken so much that he could barely move, let alone freeing himself from the position. He could only wonder why the boy was still there, and why such a small scrawny boy could do such thing as hurling his taller form up onto his back. Moreover, he was carrying him all the way towards the shelter in the middle of the island.

Still he managed a, "What the hell are you doing? Put me down!"

"Saving you!" Came the answer.

"What?" The boy being carried made an effort to slide himself off the brunet's back, but he was too weak. _'How did he! I willed him away, didn't I?' _

They reached the shack which Sora hastily entered and closed the door behind him. There was not a window in the shack where light couldn't reach. Sora looked around before putting the taller boy down carefully on the floor.

"You…" The silver-haired boy snarled; anger stood out in his voice.

Sora was panting heavily from the task. He looked down at the sitting boy for a long while, the frown never leaving his features. He pulled up the other boy's long, black sleeve and studied the slight burnt mark that had been inflicted upon his body. Hundreds of questions were in his head, ready to slip off his tongue. But the first question that came out was: "Are you all right?"

His hands that probed the burnt skin were swatted away as the silver-haired boy seemed to regain his might.

"No!" He yelled, strength slowly returning in the absence of light. "Why the hell did you bring me out of the sun? What gives you the right? I don't even know you!"

Sora backed off slightly, alarmed at the other's outburst. There was something about this guy that tensed the atmosphere, something which he would soon learn.

But still, he'd felt something under the surface of that threatening appearance.

"Calm down! Why do you have to be so angry? I saw you burning up and thought it was because of the sunlight, although the answer to why is beyond me. So I brought you here, thinking you might get better." He paused for while, looking up and down the boy to emphasize his next point. "…which I think you did."

"This is…worse." The silver-haired boy closed his eyes in dismay.

A long silence stretched between them before Sora suddenly spoke.

"A vampire?" Sora inquired.

When the burned boy opened his eyes to take a good look at Sora, seeing the blue eyes void of anything except curiosity; he sighed and nodded.

Another moment of silence overcame.

"What?" Sora asked again, mouth hanging open.

"What _'what' _? You said that yourself, boy," the said vampire stated.

"…Yeah…I did say it. It's the only explanation as to why you burned under sunlight. But…I was only kidding." Sora set himself right in front of the vampire.

"Unfortunately you are correct." The vampire frowned, not meeting the brunet's gaze. "Why else would I burn under sunlight?"

"Some kind of disease or illness perhaps?" The smaller boy put up.

"No." The taller one heaved another long sigh. He was thinking about going out to the light again. He already missed the beauty of the sunrise, but he could still fulfill his wish. His eyes automatically glanced at the doorway.

That was when a figure suddenly stood in front of him and blocked his view of the door, his eyes meeting the brunet instead.

"You're not thinking of going out there again, are you?" Sora asked, frowning.

The vampire looked up at the standing boy. "What does it matter to you?"

"Well, I don't like seeing people in pain, or worse…dying." Came the instant reply.

"You don't have to look. You can get lost or stay in this shack for a minute or two and you will never see me again, not even a trace of my body." The vampire shrugged.

"Ok, let's just say I don't want you to die." Sora altered as he set himself right in front of the sitting boy once more, blue eyes serious. "Now, let's do something about that wound of yours." The boy reached for the silver haired vampire's arms and the boy swatted it away again, hissing in pain. Sora pulled his hand away quickly. "Sorry."

The vampire's brows rose questioningly at the brunet.

"That must have hurt," The brunet pointed out.

Oceanic green eyes widened slightly. He really couldn't tell what exactly was on the brunet boy's mind. He had realized the boy was actually trying to save him from death in the sunlight and convinced him not to go back out again. And yet he was sorry for hurting him just a little when all the time it was he that yelled and shoved and swatted the boy away.

The vampire felt something strange curled up inside of his chest. He couldn't tell what it was, but he could tell that it wasn't as bad as he always had felt before when encountering another human being.

"Say, I'm Sora, what about you?" The brunet introduced himself.

The silver-haired one glanced sideways. "Riku."

"Heh." Sora let out in a soft voice with a small smile, glad that the other had introduced himself despite the lack of eye contact. "We have to do something about your wounds. There's a first aid box up on the tree house, I'll go get it-"

"No need. It'll heal on its own if given enough time." When Riku received a wide eyed look from the brunet he shrugged. "I'm a vampire, remember?"

Sora scratched his cheek with a finger, looking sideways with a lopsided grin. "Okaaay, let's say I buy this story. So you were trying to kill yourself by exposing yourself to the sunlight?"

Riku nodded.

"And I have interfered, so you're pretty upset with me," added Sora.

A nod.

"Sorry, but I still can't let you do that," the brunet stated firmly.

"I know. That look on your face told me," responded the vampire.

"Why exactly did you want to kill yourself?" Out of nowhere, the question was delivered to Riku who turned away. Sora took the hint and dropped his gaze. Since he was born, he had heard of people committing suicide and all, although there wasn't much on his Island, and he still couldn't understand or imagine how it would be to have such death wish. But he was aware that it wasn't an easy matter, and he had no intention to press upon it. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"I'm tired, that's all." Came a reply to a surprised Sora.

"Tired?" Sora's eyes rolled upward, thinking. That was exactly what a suicidal person would say when they wanted themselves to rid themselves from the world. "I see." Still, Sora found himself not being able to let things go. "But…someone would cry."

"Hmm." Riku looked away.

Sora's face lit up a little, glad that he could at least convince the other. "Seems like I'm right, eh?"

"A human boy like you wouldn't understand." Riku stated coldly.

Sora smacked both of his hands on the floor of the shack, right in front of Riku. "Hey! I'm trying though! And you don't look like you're much older than me!"

"For your information, I'm 156 years old. Although very young in vampire age, I'm still much older than you. I've seen much of everything on the darker side that I bet you've never seen once in your life. So don't go so light on me. I can kill you even now." Riku hissed impatiently as he grabbed one of Sora's small arms, glaring down at the smaller boy, parting his lips enough to reveal his inhuman fangs.

Sora, on the other hand, felt the sudden change in the atmosphere. One moment ago, he wasn't afraid at all, while he already half believed that Riku was a vampire. Then the next, he could sense that his life was being threatened. He shook slightly as he tried to yank his arm out of the firm grip, but failed. His body told him to shut his eyes, but instead, his mind forced him to look up at Riku's piercing gaze.

For a moment of staring, it was unexpected to Riku when the sky blue eyes just blinked…naively.

Oceanic eyes followed the blink, his expression turned from an angry frown to one void of emotion, and transformed into a curious look. "You. How could you still…" Riku trailed off.

The brunet looked back at the silver-haired vampire questioningly, feeling the force on his arm subside and leaving a slight throbbing pain on it.

The hand that retreated from Sora's arm pressed against Riku's forehead instead. Riku felt troubled as he asked his next question, "How could you still think that way, when I'd said I could kill you?"

"What?" Sora asked, following.

"_That_…what you are thinking right now." Riku clarified, pointing at the brunet himself.

Sora's eyes looked up at the ceiling for a while, as he crossed his arms over his chest, and then looked back at Riku. "Are you talking about what am I thinking? How do you know what I am thinking?"

"Vampire's ability."

"What? You can read minds? That's not fair, it's private!" Sora's voice raised by volume, eyes widening and arms thrashing about in the air. Sure he was an open person, but it didn't mean that he would gladly welcome someone to snoop inside of his mind.

"I haven't used that ability for a long while. I hate prying into people's thoughts, but you're different, so I tried." Riku's eyebrows knitted together as he closed his eyes, scratching the back of his head, feeling a little awkward in spite of himself. He only did that when he felt awkward and he had never felt awkward towards any human before in his life.

Sora was still babbling about privacy rights.

"Now would you quit it and tell me already!" The vampire pressed the matter, almost yelling.

Sora stopped dead in his tracks, then he settled right down and glared back at Riku, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "You can read minds, can't you? Why do you need me to answer?"

Riku's forehead dropped into his hand. This human was killing him. Then again, why would he want to know so much about the reason behind the boy's thought? He looked up between his hands and explained. "My ability is not the utmost since I'm only half vampire. I'm able to read thoughts on the surface only, nothing deeper than that." He paused, and took another breath. "Now tell me already. _Why_ did you still think of saving me when I said I could kill you."

"You looked sad," came the sudden answer. "And I didn't think you were going to kill me. You said you _can_ kill me, but you didn't say that you _would _kill me."

It hit Riku full blown. Riku contemplated about it as he studied the boy once more. Did this boy just say that he looked sad so he wanted to help despite his killing intention? This boy was causing him such a headache, with the contemplation of things unknown and incomprehensible.

Yet, he felt his heart far from restless. There was something about this boy.

Sora received a look from Riku, the one that told him that Riku was nothing but a normal boy. He felt lighter, seeing the cloud above the silver-head had gone.

"Okay, I'll give up the thought of burning myself away." Riku ran a hand through his hair in a lazy manner. _'Great. Not only can't I will him to go away, but instead he's convinced me to give up on what I've wrecked my mind to decide.'_ He caught Sora's expression.

The smaller boy grinned from ear to ear and nodded cheerfully.

But then again, Riku mused. Where would he go now? He'd long ago abandoned the places to return to.

"So, where are you living? I can take you back home-" Sora offered, and paused, then thought for a while. "-when the sun sets," he finished, then realized. "Oh no!"

Riku raised an eyebrow at him.

"School!" He looked at his watch and found that it was only almost seven. He still had plenty of time to reach the school. _But then…_His eyes traveled to Riku who still looked at him with inquisition. Sora was considering skipping school, but today he had important homework he needed to get done. The teacher had already given him a third chance, and he couldn't waste the teacher's kindness. He had spent some time the night before trying to finish it and hoped it would be worth it.

"Right, you have a place to be." Riku trailed off as he got himself up from sitting for so long, feeling enough strength had returned to him. "Go." It was not demanding; nothing but a plain word.

Sora frowned. "And where will you go? You can't go out under the light, can you?"

Riku looked around, and laid his hand on the wall of the shack. "I'll just wait until night comes."

"Then I'll stay with you. I haven't missed school much; they should be easy on me if it's only for one day." Sora shrugged. Homework was homework; he could still submit it the next day even it would grant him a little punishment. But this was a life that was in front of him that could be gone if he took his eyes off of it.

Oceanic eyes narrowed, glancing sideways at Sora. "I'll be fine. My mind is made up; I'll wait until night comes and I'll go."

"But…"

Riku stared at the boy for a long while as silence reigned.

"Sora…" His voice came out audibly. The tone wasn't moody or snappy as earlier. And it was the first time Riku called him by his name.

"Yeah?"

"I'll be fine. I'll come visit you later to prove my words, okay?" The vampire said, his voice, this time sounded sincere enough that the boy found it hard not to believe.

The brunet weighed his options for a while before nodding. The smile that graced Riku's lips surprised Sora, to the point of shock. Nevertheless, he smiled back at the vampire.

"Okay. But…do you need anything? Won't you be hungry? Wait, I'll go get my lunchbox and some water. I can buy mine at the school's cafeteria-"

"I don't eat mortal food and I don't really need blood right now." Riku cut Sora's off mid sentence, his smile turned into a smirk when he saw the other boy blanched.

"B…blood?"

"Have you already forgotten what I am?"

Sora went quiet and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I did for a moment ago."

Oceanic eyes widened in mere surprise. This human boy was acting like he was talking with another normal human boy, and not a bloody monster.

"So…does that mean you kill anyone for blood?" Sora questioned with cautious tone. "Though I don't think you look like someone who'd kill."

"We've only just met; you can't judge me by that." Riku stated, leaving a tense air between them for a while before he clarified. "Fortunately, I haven't killed human for the last 60 years or so. The last and all that I've killed were evildoers anyway. Does that sit well with you?"

Sora contemplated while locking his eyes on Riku for a while. "Well…not really. But…I think there's more to you."

"You should go. I can tell you more later," Riku urged.

Sora's eyes turned sideways for a while, and then nodded. "You're not a resident here, are you? You might get lost. I'll be here after school, around 3 pm that is, I'll still find you here, won't I?"

The blue-eyed was surprised at the reassuring smile that Riku gave him as he nodded. "See you then, and don't hurt anyone here!" Sora pressed the last word.

"I won't. I'll be looking forward to seeing you again, Sora."

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The brunet boy reached the pier to the main island and ran up all the way to his school. Just midway between his school and the path to the Island was a crossroad where his house was. As Sora ran, he could make out a blond head from afar.

It was a boy, with the same blue eyes as his, though a little lighter. He wore an identical uniform as Sora did. His face resembled with the brunet's, although his hair was blond, and swirled neatly in one direction. The blond boy was leaning against one of the coconut trees, looking about, obviously waiting for someone.

"Roxas!" Sora waved and came rushing towards him. "Are you waiting for me?"

"You should have told me last night that you were going to the island, Sora. It would have been better than leaving a note like that." The (slightly) taller boy peered down at the puffing brunet.

Sora took one step back, slightly flailing at his older brother. "But I didn't plan for that, you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you." Then he started pacing off to avoid the ensuing lecture. "Come on, Rox, let's go."

"Hmm," Roxas made the sound in his throat as he picked up his pace. "Well, I don't mind you leaving the house early in the morning without me. Just don't come home late when we're not together, all right?"

"Eh…speaking of which," Sora suddenly gave off a lopsided grin. "I'm going to the remote Island again after school."

"What time will you be back?" The older brother asked.

"Uh…" Sora paused, thinking. He didn't know how long it would take him. He would have to wait until sunset so Riku could come out of the shack and…

"Just come home before sunset," Roxas decided for him, cutting through Sora's decision.

The younger brother's head snapped up at Roxas. "What? Why?"

"It's dangerous at night," the blond answered, looking ahead.

"But, I've been on my own since I was five, Rox! And you've never been overly worried about me coming home late. Since you've came back from Twilight Town, you started telling me not to come home late and be watchful. You know there's not much crime in Destiny Island," Sora reasoned.

It was the time they finally reached the school's front gate; students were rushing by to reach the school grounds. Roxas's frown deepened from earlier, he brought his face closer to his younger brother and said in a low voice. "You haven't heard of the news? There are several people who've been killed by an unknown cause, and some are missing. All of this happens at night."

Sky blue eyes stared into lighter blue ones, gaping. "But, isn't that some place else?"

"Close enough to Destiny Island. There's something lurking in the dark, Sora. You've got to be careful," the older brother pressed.

A moment ago, Sora was thinking of telling about his encounter with a vampire to his twin brother. Now, he didn't want to fill his brother with more worries. His twin brother might not be an overly optimistic, but Sora thought it was strange for his brother who lately scolded him a lot about not being in the house at night. _'Roxas has been this way for this past few months…' _then Sora realized._ 'Was this thing Roxas was talking about related to Riku in some way?' _Sora was about to open his mouth to ask.

"Sora! Roxas!" a girl's voice called to both boys and they turned, seeing the redhead and a curly brunet girls walk up to them.

"Hey, Kairi, Selphie," both boys greeted their friends, Sora's friends, to be exact.

Roxas was an exchange student from Twilight Town. At first, he had been admitted to Destiny School, the same as Sora. But the one year Sora and he'd been sent to Twilight Town. He was enthralled by the place and made three close friends there that he decided to stay at Twilight School instead.

Despite being a twin, how much they looked alike, and how close they were, there were differences. Roxas liked Twilight Town where the city stayed somewhat shadowy with a late afternoon scent all the time. On the other hand, Sora enjoyed his life at Destiny Island where things were livelier and brighter.

Somehow, Roxas had only come back for Sora.

For each of them, each of the places felt like home, while another place wasn't.

Roxas expressed his decision of admitting to Twilight High, and Sora protested; when Roxas packed his belongings, Sora had gone over to put Roxas's stuffs back in places (much to Roxas's distress and annoyance); when Roxas was readied to go, Sora became clingy.

It took everything inside of Roxas to pry Sora off of him and convinced that they could stop for a visit anytime since the train was only few hours away.

Fortunately, Destiny School and Twilight School had a good connection that Roxas could stay at Destiny School for a year. At least, that was what Roxas wanted, in order to come and watch his brother for a while before leaving again.

Sora did notice that when his brother came home this time, the usual liveliness in Roxas had gone. There were times where he caught his brother sitting alone, staring off into space, and seeming gloomy. Sora still didn't have the answer to his brother's unusual behavior, and Roxas would always smile for him whenever he was around. Being a straightforward person, Sora just asked in concern. And Roxas, being a person who kept things inside most of the time, didn't tell Sora what was wrong. Things had stayed tense and hung around for the passed few months that they had been together.

The bell rang, signaling the students to pick up their paces to their respective rooms. Before Roxas went to his class, he called out to his brother. "Sora, don't forget what I said. At lunch, I'll come by."

Kairi and Selphie turned in unison with curiosity in their eyes. "What was that about?"

"Eh…" Sora gave a lopsided grin as he scratched his cheek with a finger.

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After school, Sora went straight out of school and directly to the beach to set sail to the remote Island, along with Roxas and many of his friends. He didn't mean for all of them to come but who was he to stop them anyway? Kairi had been his closest friend, and Selphie close to her, so that brought both of them. Then Tidus and Wakka, two of his guy friends claimed that they wanted to tag along and practice Blitzball.

Sora was worried for a moment over his friends' and his brother's safety, if Riku was what he claimed to be. Then again, he felt that he could trust Riku. Besides being overly optimistic, Sora also had adopted a trait of good personality judging. There was only once or twice out of numerous times that he had made a big mistake about it. Still, it was something he came to be very proud of.

Luckily, all the three couples had their boats in different directions so they would meet again at the Destiny Island. That gave Sora time alone with Roxas where he could reveal more.

Well, it could be better to have two helping hands. Roxas might not be the one who threw himself into trouble just to save someone he barely knew like Sora. But he also wasn't the one who would walk away knowing someone else was in trouble.

"Rox, the reason I'm going to the Island, because there's this…guy, Riku." Sora started, catching Roxas's attention as the blond lifted his thin brow. "I know you'll find it hard to believe since you never believe in such kind of thing. But he said he's a vampire," Sora paused, registering his brother who had his eyes widened, and Sora was surprised.

Normally, whenever Sora told Roxas that he saw someone in the dark or heard some freaky monster's scream from somewhere, Roxas would only throw him a lazy gaze, and tell Sora to knock it off. Sora couldn't help it, and blamed it on Roxas, who was the very one that, as a child, always scared Sora by pointing left and right, saying there was a man without a head at one of the dark corner, a girl with a long black hair covering her face in white dress at the far side of the sea.

Sora had learned that it all had been Roxas's tactic of scaring Sora so he would not wander off so far and come home on time. But old habits died hard and the young brunet found himself still tangled in such beliefs that strange things other than human or animal does exist.

Back to where Roxas had his eyebrow raised, it was soon followed by an exclaimed as the blond paused in paddling. "WHAT?"

The younger of the two winced at his brother's shriek, his brother never shrieked.

"A vampire!"

"Yeah, I know you won't believe me, but… Roxas, why are we turning around?" Sora asked when his brother suddenly did a u-turn.

"We're going back," Roxas stated firmly as he looked around, seeing the other two boats nearing the Island and he shouted. "Everyone! Don't go near the Island! Go back!"

"Wait, Roxas! What's gotten into you! I thought you didn't believe in such things." Sora shifted from his seat and bent closer to his brother, emphasizing the point. "Wait! Don't go back! I have to get to that Island!" Sora protested; he could also hear his friends' yelling with questions from both side. "Roxas!"

Roxas didn't stop as Sora caught the hint of real panic in his brother's blue eyes.

Sora spared a glance at his friends who had their paddling stopped and were waiting for answers.

"Turn around, and go home!" Roxas repeated.

"Wait, Roxas, turn around!" Sora grabbed both side of the small boat, standing up and looking down at his brother who still kept paddling back to the mainland.

Although they were at the same age, Roxas had always acted like the mature one among all of them, so Sora's friends automatically looked up to him as a senior like Wakka. But Roxas wasn't so carefree and uncollected like Wakka, which made them follow Roxas's words should he stress it. He would have to stop Roxas in order to convince his friends, but Sora couldn't care less about that just right now.

The seemingly harmless boy who claimed to be a vampire would have died had Sora not been there. And he was actually expecting Sora to come see him. Sora had been thinking that the matter was someone's life here. He couldn't just settle with the thought of leaving some miserable person on his own.

Sora jumped off the boat and into the water.

"Sora!" Roxas shouted suddenly as the others nearby gasped. When the brunet's head poked out of the water, Roxas scooted to the opposite side of the boat where Sora had been sitting earlier. He reached for his brother and ordered. "Sora, get back here!"

The said brother turned his head back. "You can go home Roxas. I'll catch up to you later." With that, he swam off to the nearby island.

"Sora!" Roxas repeated, his call clashing in unison with Sora's friends calling for him as they started paddling towards the island to go after the swimming boy. "Damn it, Sora," Roxas hammered against the side of the boat and grabbed the paddle again, following his brother.

The boy kept swimming until he reached the beach. He picked himself off of the water, squashing about and took his steps towards the shack.

Roxas on the other hand, jumped off the boat and dashed after his brother while Tidus and Wakka grabbed Sora's boat to tie the rope before it would be swept away by the waves. Then Kairi and Selphie who reached the pier last, could only gape at each other and each of the Blitzball boys in confusion.

Just ten more paces before Sora reached the shack; Roxas had grabbed his wrist and stopped him from going further, thanks to his faster paces. "Sora! If you said he was a vampire, then he's dangerous! Moreover, he can survive on his own, he doesn't need your help!" Roxas tried to reason with his brother but it proved fruitless when Sora shook his head vehemently like a child protesting his parents.

"No, Roxas," Sora's earlier vigilant demeanor had subsided; instead, it was replace with a droopy one as sky blue eyes cast on the sand. Sora, looking solemn all of the sudden, his worries surpassed the realization of why Roxas would say such thing as if vampires did exist. "Riku was about to kill himself. Although he said he'd already given up his motive after that, I still have to make sure he's okay."

Roxas's eyes softened at his brother's change in demeanor. He held the younger boy's both arm and asked, "Sora… Are you really sure he's harmless? You said his name is Riku?"

Sora nodded, hoping now and then that his brother could understand. Roxas always does, when he reasoned back with him instead of outbursting like a child. And Sora believed his brother wouldn't fail him this time.

Roxas heaved a long sigh, looking away. "Okay, tell me one thing. Does this…vampire have red hair, green eyes, and a pair of reversed tear drop under his eyes?"

The brunet's eyebrow rose higher than ever before. Sora looked back at his brother, questions written all over his face. He wanted to ask why such a question was being aksed; _does it have anything to do with this?_ But now there was nothing he cared much except to see that Riku was okay, so he simply gave answer to that, "No. Riku has green eyes, yes. But his hair is silver and he doesn't have tattoos on his face."

The blond heaved a long sigh and his head dropped, eyes casting on the sand below their feet, and contemplated longer than usual. He still had his hands with firm grip on Sora, so as not to let his brother go anywhere.

The younger one waited for his brother to weigh the option whether to approve it or not, which he expected it to be the former. Until he caught sight of his four friends coming up and stopping by their sides, asking wildly of why Sora had jumped off like that. Sora returned them with a sheepish grin. His clothes and all were still wet.

Before Sora could say anything, Roxas rose his head back up and let go of Sora's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sora's been overreacting." Sora gaped at his brother; eyes silently asking of whom exactly was it that was overreacting. Then he reassured his friends that everything was okay.

When the four started to walk off towards the beach, Sora tugged at Roxas's shirt, and Roxas managed a small smile at him. Sora was unnerved, because his brother's smile was a sad one. Like the one he knew Roxas had to force off when he asked his brother what was wrong. He was about to speak, but Roxas did it first.

"Sora, promise me." The blond once again had his grip on the brunet's shoulder. "We'll see that Riku's fine and we'll leave, okay?"

"Roxas, but why-"

"Okay?" Roxas cut him off, leaving Sora no room for argument.

Sora knew this was enough for what he had asked for. Roxas had always downright rejected his whines when it came to things that Roxas deemed could be threatening to him. His brother just wanted to protect him and Sora understood it perfectly.

"Stay behind me," Roxas told the young brunet and took a step ahead to the shack.

Sora tried to peek over his brother's shoulder from behind. Roxas' behavior had added all the more confusion and curiosity to him. Generally, his brother wasn't this overly protective, especially when he told Roxas that there was something somewhere. _'And what is he talking about, the red haired guy or something? Does it have anything to do with Riku? Why is he bothered as if he'd really believe me about vampires at all?'_ Questions ran inside Sora's mind as he trailed beside his brother, not really obeying the command to be behind.

Roxas pushed his brother to step behind and shot an annoyed glare, but he received only a naïve look from the boy. The blond narrowed his eyes, and took great pain not to shout out loud to the heavens: _'Why the hell can't my brother so overly optimistic that he can't even think of a possible danger!'_

"Roxas, I told you he's not dangerous. He only needs help."

_'May I add too, of what is his obsession with helping people!'_ the shout rang in the blond's head.

Finally, Roxas had turned the doorknob. He stood still in front of the door, while Sora tiptoed, trying to get a peek over his brother's shoulder. The blond was literally between the door and Sora, blocking the smaller boy out.

"Riku?" called Sora.

Roxas stepped into the shack, with Sora hurrying behind. Both pair of blue eyes looked around and they turned to look at each other.

"There's no one here," Roxas stated the obvious, catching a flash of disappointment running through his brother's eyes.

Eyes traveled to the stairs that lead to the upper level, Sora made his way half up the stairs. "Maybe he's up there, I'll go check."

"Sora, don't go first!" Roxas could only hurriedly follow when the boy stomped up.

When Roxas reached the top, he only saw his brother there. Sora looked back at him, then he opened the door, which would lead to the part of the middle of the island. The strong afternoon light peeked in through it.

"He can't come out this way, or the other way downstairs…" Sora trailed off.

"Okay, good." Roxas crossed his arms with stern expression on his face. "I believed that you weren't kidding around since you were so serious. So I could take it as some freaking boy was just messing with you and now he's already got his ass back home. Now it's our turn to go home and dry yourself off before you get sick."

"He…burned, Roxas." Sora's voice was barely audible, as his eyes locked on the floor. "I saw it, his skin burned under the sunlight; it couldn't possibly be a prank." Then his blue eyes suddenly dimmed and looked shock. "Oh no…what if…"

Roxas's frown deepened as he came closer to his brother.

"What if he got back out and let himself be burned completely?" Sora's eyes finally traveled up to his brother, his eyes still blanked and shocked. "That's why he's not here."

The older brother put his hand over the boy's shoulder. This was one thing he'd came to bear so much about, his brother being guilty for something he wasn't supposed to. Having undying obsession in helping hands was a two-edged sword; Sora could become pretty vulnerable when he already believed he could help someone but failed to do so.

"Sora, there's no body—"

"Vampires burn and turn into ashes. They're blown away by the wind, Roxas. He told me that," Sora argued.

"Sora, in that case, there's nothing we can do," Roxas concluded and mused when his brother's statement struck him. _'Wait, burn under the sunlight? But…'_

"I'll look around the island," Sora announced.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

It had been another two hours that Sora and Roxas spent time searching for said vampire around the Island. Sora's friends did join in the searching later, given the description but not the identity. They found nothing though.

When the sun set, they gave up, and Sora was half-convinced and half-forced to get home. His clothes were already dried from running around in search of Riku.

Roxas was paddling back while Sora stared off into the ocean. Normally they would take turns, but Sora had only rowed around in a circle, with his short span of attention when his mind was disturbed. The blond looked over his brother concernedly, but at least he knew tomorrow things would turn out okay. Sora always had a knack of rebounding back to his usual self with a cheerful demeanor again, after a few sulk.

Roxas had hoped that whatever Sora had encountered wouldn't be associated with what he'd been trying to protect Sora from.


	2. Ch 2 2nd Meeting or Not?

Special Thanks to XShootingStarX for re-beta-reading, on 01/10/08. 

**Note: **One "X" marked where the story is remnants of memories or dreams.

So, here goes:

**Saving Chapter 2: 2nd Meeting…or Not? **

X

'_I've been having these weird thoughts lately, like is any of this for real or not?'_

X

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sora was back home with Roxas. It was a rare sight for Roxas to see that Sora wanted to be alone, since usually Sora wouldn't want that when he felt bad. The elder one had understood, so he settled in the living room, and left the younger one in their bedroom, hoping his brother would just go to sleep and forget everything.

But sleep didn't come to Sora easy.

The brunet rolled about in his bed, tangling in his bed sheets. He had done with enough thinking. _'Maybe it was some prank that guy was pulling. In that case, then nobody is dead'. _Sora had his hands laced at the back of his head, his eyes looking up at the ceiling for a while, then they traveled to the window at his side, which was left open just to let the breeze in. He wasn't expecting something else beside the wind.

"BOO!"

Came the sudden voice, accompanied by a silhouetted figure that appeared in Sora's vision at his open window.

"Uwaaaaaaaaagghhh!" The brunet yelled, scooting himself off to the side and fell off the bed, his legs half on the cushion. He scrambled up quickly a few feet away and took another good look again while clutching his blanket for dear life, his heart pounding.

Blue eyes widened as they registered the dark figure at his window. It was the silver-haired boy, only head to shoulder visible behind the window frame, and upside down. His silky silver hair hung straight down, swaying in the wind. Sora immediately recognized the figure "Riku!"

"That's me." Riku responded with a chuckle, obviously due to the sight of Sora's landing on his back. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah…" Sora threw out an immediate answer due to his dazed state.

Riku then flung himself through the window and jumped in gracefully. Avoiding stepping on the bed, he landed directly between Sora and the cushion.

"Hi," He greeted with a smirk, glancing down at the boy.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" The boy shot up from the floor, clutching where his heart would be. Then Sora realized there was something more important than him complaining. "Wait, where were you anyway? I went to the Island and you weren't in the shack."

"Well, I-" Riku paused as he whipped his head to look at the door. "Someone's coming."

"Probably Roxas. Good, so I can tell-" Sora was cut off when Riku took him by the shoulder.

"Don't tell anyone."

The door was opened and Roxas poked his head in. "Sora, is everything okay?"

Sora looked at Roxas, and when he turned back again, Riku was gone. He smiled sheepishly at Roxas while his brother narrowed his eyes and stepped into the room.

"Hey, Roxas, Everything's fine. I just fell off the bed!" Sora said.

Roxas's eyes studied the blanket on the floor. He sighed with a smile when walking over to grab the blanket, and threw it on the bed. "That's typical. Bad dreams?"

"Uh…yeah." Sora gave a lopsided grin.

"What about this time?" Roxas sat on the end of Sora's bed, looking up at the standing boy.

"Eh…I was kidnapped by an alien."

Roxas gave a soft chuckle before he got himself up and knocked Sora's head softly with a knuckle. "Careful then, don't fall too often. You're already dumb enough."

"Hey!" By the time Sora was about to throw some pillow at his brother, Roxas had already slipped out of the room, still laughing.

Sora let out a huf. He knew his brother was still half-concerned about him, although the blond understood perfectly not to bring it up. If either of them were worried, if affected the other. And it could go on endlessly; best for them not to go over it.

"Kidnapped by an alien?" The firm voice came from behind him.

When he turned, it was Riku, standing at the end of the bed and leaned against the window, crossing his arms over his chest. A smirk played on his lips.

Sora gaped at him widely before the surprise on his face faded away to be replaced by a brilliant smile. "Yeah, not quite this time. But I had had earlier dreams which some human like duck and dog dragged me all around, convincing me to save the worlds out there by locking the worlds with some huge key."

"A human duck and dog, and a huge key?" For a moment there, Riku's eyes widened at the tale, it felt awfully familiar. Yet coincidence was a thing that happened all the time, so he didn't give much thought to it. "And did you?"

"Yeah. I only went with them because they said I can find my lost friends," Sora's eyes dropped to the ground level.

"Did you find them?"

"I found both. But one of them turned against me, he was consumed by darkness. But in the end he helped me fight off the darkness and we saved the worlds. The other friend of mine went back to our world safely while the one who helped me closed the door of darkness was locked inside it. And I lost sight of him."

"What did you do then?"

"I intended to search for him again. But it ends there, I never found him." Sora finished, closing his eyes, looking slightly solemn. After a moment, he spoke again. "Geez, it was just a dream and I'm making a big deal out of it because you encouraged me."

"Dreams…can tell all sorts of things." Riku pushed himself off of the wall with his shoulders and stepped closer to the boy. Tilting his head to the side, he reached near Sora, his hand almost touching the boy's face. "You look sad."

"One of my friends in that dream was Kairi, my best friend at school, and another one…I don't even remembered his face or his name and that's kinda sad." Sora grinned sheepishly. "I know it's absurd to feel sad because of such an irrational dream. I don't know what's wrong with me, with this dream." Then Sora shook off the earlier expression and replaced it with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Geez, now I'm just babbling, you must be thinking that I'm weird."

"Not at all… I've seen weirder things. There's nothing wrong with you, everyone has something to feel bad about when they wake up from bad dreams." Riku commented. "And you're…talking as if I'm not some kind of vampire that just leaped into your room and might have harmed you."

Sora narrowed his eyes playfully. "If you're going to do it, you would have done so before I started babbling like that." Then he smiled a toothy grin before asking. "Now…where were you?"

"Been away…"

"From the shack? I thought you couldn't go out under the sun." Sora quirked an eyebrow.

"There are shadowy places which I can hide in without being too exposed to the sunlight." Riku then pulled up his sleeves, revealing his pale skinned arms that were healed perfectly, leaving no hint of the burn. "It didn't affect me much."

"Good, you're healed. Wait…" Sora paused, eyes going sharp, as did his tone of voice. "You didn't hurt anyone, did you?"

"No," Riku replied and added. "Just to let you know, I'm not a normal vampire as in those myths and legends that human wrote about. I'm a Nobody-vampire; I don't need blood to sustain my being."

The brunet cocked his head to the side, clearly showing confusion.

"As a matter of fact, I am not really a vampire, that is…if you call that a blood draining creature who needs blood to keep himself alive. I am a Nobody, but my kinds and I are called vampires because to create us, blood must be shared, like how vampire would be created from a human. It's basically the same process. As well as the fact that we burn during sunrise, but not sunset."

"Hmm? Aren't morning rays weaker than the noon and late evening?" The brunet pointed out.

"Morning rays mark the beginning of the light of all, it has something to do with theoretical points that it's the way it should be, you know, the beginning of light is the end of darkness, and us…" Riku pointed to himself and said, "-the creatures of darkness. We also gain some vampiric abilities, but they can only be used when enough of another's blood is running in our veins. That's the sole reason that Nobody-vampires drain blood from others. I hadn't done much draining, and not at all for the last 70 years, since the Nobody's abilities alone already sufficed." Riku spared a glance at Sora's confused face and summed it up. "In short, I don't need to hurt or kill anyone for blood. Sure I might need a pint when I want to use my vampire's side abilities, but in the meantime I don't need it so I won't be hurting anyone for blood."

"Okaay. I see. That's good to hear." The brunet nodded, compromising in earnest. In all honesty, he wouldn't know what to do if Riku had to kill someone to save himself.

Riku smiled.

"Wait, and how did you find me?" Sora asked, finally getting to the question that he should have asked a long time ago.

"I was still there when you came to the Island in the afternoon." Riku shoved his hands into his black coat's pockets. "There were people with you; I didn't want to meet them so I remained in the shadow until you head home and I followed. I saw how the blond guy ealier tried to stop you coming to me." Riku's face wore a frustrated expression when he looked away from Sora. "I don't blame him though."

"Roxas is my twin brother; he'd just concerned about me, though he's been strangely overprotective lately," the brunet explained as he realized another flaw in Riku's answer. "But I didn't see you when we paddled back to the main Island. How did you-?"

"I waited until you reached the main island, and followed that direction," Riku uninterestedly. Then he raised his eyebrows when Sora gaped at him, lips parted in awe.

"Whoaaaa…." Sora vocalized; his eyes gleamed attentively.  
Riku just shrugged, and then smirked. "You really believed me right away, don't you? Quite a strange boy you are." To his surprise, Sora nodded.

"You speak as if you're not telling the truth, but you're telling the truth, aren't you?" Sora pointed out than asking. Then it was Riku's turn to nod.

The turn of conversation made Riku study the boy. He'd met lots of people who he'd easily let discover his identity, knowing they wouldn't believe him anyway. Boys at Sora's age would only stare at him like a maniac, while girls and women would mostly gawk at him seductively. At first, he thought Sora was just playing along, but now he knew the boy was obviously not. He could see pure curiosity and sheer excitement in the boy's eyes, which made Sora all the more…appealing.

"I believe that something beyond humans does exist. Like…Santa Clause too. Although I once thought I don't believe in his existence anymore. Now I think I still do" Sora trailed off.

"Once thought?"

"Yeeaah, someone told me a long time ago that Santa didn't exist. I don't know why, but I kinda believed in everything that person said, although sometimes it clashed with my own beliefs."

'_That sounds so familiar.' _Riku, thought, but he couldn't recall anything, so he only said his fact. "Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora snapped his head to look at Riku. "What? How do you know?"

The vampire shrugged again. "I've been to many worlds. I met and saw everything out there. Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora's shoulder drooped. He opened his mouth, but fought the urge to argue over the issue.

'_Why do I feel like I've heard this line before?_' The thought came to Riku's mind. Still, he recalled nothing. He absentmindedly sat down on another empty bed opposite to Sora's. Then he studied the room one more time. The room held two occupants, Sora on the left side of the room, and his older twin must be on the other. Between the two beds was a window that provided a perfect view of the ocean and the small remote island separated from the main one. At the foot of each bed was a bit of untidiness, piles of different sorts of things. On the left side, clothes and stuffs were scattered everywhere. On the right, it wasn't completely neat either; various kinds of books were lying on the ground. When Riku's eyes trailed up the built-in shelves that contained more books, he saw several titles that caught his interest.

"You have a thing for books?" Sora asked and received a nod. His smile widened. "Roxas loves books too, he told me to read some since it would do people good, but I always fall asleep when I read books."

The vampire was already at the shelves, reaching and tipping one of the book spines to let it slid down into his open palm. When he noticed Sora staring, he almost gave an apologetic look and trailed off. "Sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Nah, it's okay. Roxas wouldn't mind. He would be happy to share it with someone with the same interest. You know, there are not many readers around here on this Island; Roxas doesn't really have a chance to share with anyone when it comes to books, except Kairi. But Kairi mostly reads juvenile books, like me, while Roxas only reads those grown-up stuffs that never fail to lull me to sleep. Though the only interest we share is books about stars." Sora talked animatedly.

"I can see that." Riku glanced around the room, seeing the decorations that stood out most in the rooms were huge, yellow neon glow stars around the room, on both Sora's and Roxas's sides.

"Say, I'll let you meet Roxas and Kairi and the other next time, eh? If you're okay with that," Sora said, almost cautiously due to Riku's earlier frustrated expression when he talked about how others tagged along with Sora.

"I'm not okay with that," Riku merely brushed it off.

"Oh." Was the small reply from Sora as he cast his gaze downwards.

"Will he be up here in a minute or what? I mean, your brother," Riku asked.

"Roxas is consulting dad about his project, he'd probably come up and sleep at 10," Sora answered "have a seat already, Riku. I take it that you'll know if Roxas comes up? Riku, I want to hear your story. What worlds have you been to? What kind of people have you met?"

The vampire quirked an eyebrow at how strange the boy was. More than half of the countless people he'd met out there refused to believe the fact that he was anything but human. They claimed he was pulling a prank in all the vampire's abilities he'd displayed (because it was necessary rather than to show off). But this boy in front of him now already believed him only from witnessing him burnt once, while others would say he was tricking them or was even stalking them by showing up at their house like this!

He knew Sora was different. For the past four years he hadn't felt like talking to anyone, since after he'd explored the worlds and all that had happened. He'd felt empty, seeing things come and go, places he'd been to and left, people he'd met and parted. It all added to his emptiness and he found himself unable to be like he used to be; always curious about everything.

Maybe it was the dark side of life he'd seen. His eyes darkened at the thought, but when they shifted to the sitting boy who gazed at him attentively, Riku felt lighter.

Smiling at the boy, he walked back to where Sora was sitting on his bed. "It's been so long. I don't know…where to begin."

"Why don't you begin with how you came up with the idea of going from worlds to worlds?" The boy suggested.

Unexpectedly, Riku's gaze dropped. "I'll skip that. Since I don't remember how my story began…"

"You don't?" Sora asked, half-worried, half-curious.

The oceanic eyes looked up from the floor. "My life began when I was sixteen; from there I can remember that I woke up in Hollow Bastian. Before that, I don't know who I was or where I was."

"Okaaay…You can start from there," Sora said enthusiastically.

Riku felt oddly grateful inside. Sora was only a mere boy; he looked as if he wasn't the type to be thoughtful while in fact he was. He didn't look mature enough to put himself in the other's shoe, but yet he did.

So Riku spent a good few hours reading the story of his life to Sora.

Unknown to the human boy, Riku had left out all the part where his dark past lay.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

X

It was dark, everywhere, his surroundings and everything he set his eyes on. He'd thought he was alone in this no man's land, but he was wrong. He'd always been accompanied by darkness. And when he looked into his own heart, he again only met darkness.

It didn't matter that he had his blindfold on, the darkness was as clear as day. Everything didn't really matter anymore to him.

He used to be extrovert, always curious and hunger for more adventures. But every journey has its end, and so did his. He found himself unable to find anything interesting anymore. He wanted to stop, thus, he'd chosen his last stop, not at the Darkness.

But at the nothingness.

Realm of Nothingness, was his current location, and forever would be. Wondering and floating endlessly in the vast amount of emptiness. Thus, he was confounded when he saw a door, out of nowhere. It was slightly decorated with curves in gold and the door itself was in soft brown.

His oceanic eyes studied the colorful door that lay among the darkness. In his stomach, he felt something he'd not felt for years. It was something that he once used to feel, a long time ago.

Curiosity.

He reached for the door with hesitation, but it opened to him before he touched it. Bright, white light shoved at him and it stung his eyes painfully, yet he didn't back up.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in some place else. Not the Realm of Nothingness, nor the Realm of Darkness. He turned his head back and saw the very same door that he opened earlier there. He knew without a thought that the door linked the two places together.

Then what could this place be?

He looked around, and made out easily that it was only a cave, in the center of the ceiling was a small gap where light filtered through. Chirps of birds from the above filled his ears. He closed his eyes, and breathed in the scent of what he believed was coming from waves that came through the open wall above, though the musty smell of damp mud hit his sense the most.

Then his gaze traveled to the opposite end of the cave and found a narrow passage that led to somewhere, most likely outside. He trailed along and made it out through the thicket covering the entrance of what seemed to be a cavern.

Sunlight hit him which hurt his eyes more than the light that had come from the door. He could go back inside but he didn't.

This place was calling him.

He wanted to see what lay before his eyes. He slowly reached and pulled off the blindfold that had been secured around his eyes for years. It slid off easily but his eyes remained close since the light already stung his eyelids by just removing the material. He stood his ground and slowly opened his heavy eyelids, with effort he hadn't mustered for years. Then the surroundings came into view. There was an ocean in the horizon, yellow sandy beach just a few steps away and clear blue sky above him.

He couldn't really grasp anything at the moment, but he knew there was a feeling of longing inside of him, something very close to nostalgia.

_Had he been here before? But when or how?_ He could not tell.

He took a slow step out of the shadow of the trees, not forgetting that his body couldn't tolerate morning rays. He'd known by how he hadn't burned right there that it must have been about midday. He only felt itched by it, but his body was fine. Despite that, his eyes couldn't bear the light anymore once he reached the yellow sandy beach, his body went down. He closed his eyes, and groaned in pain.

"Are you all right, Sir?"

He looked up languidly and forced his eyes open again. Something was standing between his way and the sunray, so he could bear it a little better, though he couldn't make out much of what was in front of him. But he need not jump away, he just knew that thing wasn't dangerous in anyway.

"You don't look so good."

A boy's voice. Therefore, the thing in front of him must have been nothing else but a boy.

"Go away," he managed a snap. The first word he'd ever said in four years. The boy didn't react to his wish but he was too weak to do anything violent enough to communicate that he wanted the annoying boy to go that instant.

Two small hands were on his shoulder and he found himself wincing at the touch. With his reaction, the hands recoiled away, followed by a faint whisper of "sorry." Strange as it was, he felt discontented about the lost of contact, something he hadn't felt for years. He looked up, squeezing his eyes slightly from the light. He was able to make out a clearer vision of the boy.

The boy had mussed brown hair which stuck out in all direction, his skin was soft tan, and his eyes were a darker shade of blue from standing with his back against the sun.

"Sir, are you hurt? Let me help you," the boy said again, with a more cautious tone. But the older one could tell that the level of sincerity hadn't dropped by any degree. Only the boy was afraid, if not much, then slightly.

He was hit by a tiny feeling in his stomach that could possibly be…guilt. He shook his head slightly and the boy asked, "What?"

"No. Just…" He started._ 'Leave, I'm fine, whatever, leave me alone. You're annoying, you can't help me. I said go away.'_ All those words were running in his head, ready to slip off his tongue. But when he opened his mouth, he found it very surprising that it came out the other way around in a single simple word: "…stay."

He wasn't sure if he'd said that due to the fact that the boy was in between his way and the sun (although only slightly due to the boy's small frame). And he didn't know when his hand had caught the smaller boy's right one, then his head leaning lightly against the boy's stomach.

They went silent.

Until he slowly looked up, he saw the boy still looked at him with the same worried expression.

"Hey…" He said softly to the boy, and he was unable to say more. He'd spent years after years in the dark and in nothingness, not uttering a single word, at least not to another human being or anything with a sense of communication. Though he rarely had trains of thoughts running in his mind, he found it strange to form the words and roll it off his tongue.

The boy shifted uncomfortably, and the flash of light that peeked through made him hiss slightly. The brunet boy seemed to notice as he suggested, "Why don't we go to the shack over there? It's pretty shady. I think you're having a heat stroke or something."

The next thing he knew, he was being dragged by the smaller boy to a shack nearby.

Despite the hot rays from the sun, the Island did have a windy, cooling breeze from the ocean. Instead of going to the shack, the vampire beckoned to the boy that he would be fine just sitting somewhere in the shadow of the trees. So they both settled near the waterfall.

He cleared his throat and glanced back at the boy, catching eye contact. Now that the soft ray of light was on the boy's face, his eyes were lighter, like a sky blue. Said eyes were still gazing at him, with a hopeful look, a mix of concern, and something like…curiosity.

_'Right, I used to have those very same eyes.' _A thought came into his mind.

"I'm Sora."

He blinked at the sudden introduction.

Sora flashed a cheeky grin for the first time, and he couldn't recall if he'd ever see any smile as big as this boy's, so full of emotion, so full of merriment, so full of life and light. Everything he lacked at the moment. And he found it very difficult not to return it.

A very small smile, or more like an extremely miniature curving of the mouth was all he could manage. But that didn't matter, for the boy's grin was obviously wider, if possible.

"What's your name, Sir?" The boy asked.

"Riku. Don't call me Sir." The Riku said.

"Okay, Riku. Are you okay now? Sunlight on Destiny Island does have its way of attacking tourists." Sora said with a soft chuckle and looked the taller one up and down. "I've never seen any tourist with hair and eyes like yours, not that there're many tourists around here though."

"I'm no tourist, and I'm not having heat stroke," Riku corrected, trying to ignore when the little thing was studying him, particularly his silver hair and oceanic green eyes.

"Then why are you-" Sora didn't finish the question but his eyes asked Riku. Riku never hid his identity. "We vampires are allergic to sunlight."

The boy's blue eyes widened, not in fear, not in shock, but in sheer excitement. "A vampire! But don't vampires burn under sunlight?" The boy had both his hands on the ground, inclining towards the older one, and peering up at him in near range.

It made the said vampire chuckled a little, and almost choked in doing so. He hadn't chuckled for a good number of years, let alone laugh.

"We evolved," the silveret lied with a smirk. Yet again, something he hadn't done in years.

Riku didn't feel like explaining to a kid about his being of a Nobody-vampire, which was different from a normal vampire. A kid was just a kid; he found no reason to get into details.

"Woowww," the boy voiced in awe.

Riku couldn't say he was feeling the same way. This kid right here was making him feel just about everything he had forgotten to feel in only just a short span of time since they met.

The boy lifted his hands to their eye level and the vampire raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Can I see your fangs?"

Before the vampire could say anything, small hands were already on his cheeks to bare his lips, and revealing the inhumanly sharp fangs.

In another situation or with other people, Riku would have already swatted their hands away, but he didn't this time. Instead, he found it oddly pleasant. For a moment there, he reasoned with himself that he'd forgotten how it felt like to be touched by someone else. Still, he remembered hating people touching him back then, didn't he? He decided that he would argue with himself about that matter later.

Somehow his eyes narrowed down at the boy, just enough to make the boy retract his hands.

The vampire closed his eyes in annoyance. The boy did cross line, didn't he? Though he didn't deem it wrong like he usually would, he wanted payback. "You want to try?" With that said, he bared his fangs with a small hiss.

It was enough to drive Sora to struggle a few feet away from him in fear.

Riku laughed at the sight.

Little Sora huffed in anger. "You tricked me!"

"And had fun doing it," the vampire said between his slowly, dying down laughter.

He laughed; he just laughed, and was having fun teasing the boy he'd just met. Riku himself couldn't believe it.

There was certainly something about this boy.

"You do believe me?" He asked.

The small one nodded his small head enthusiastically. "I do believe in vampire just like I believe in Santa, although Roxas told me to stop believing. But if I met a vampire today, I'm sure I'll meet Santa too." The brunet looked up at the sky with a childish anticipation shone in his eyes. All came crashing down with Riku's next words.

"Santa Claus doesn't exist."

Riku didn't know that when he said it, the statement had hit the brunet boy, hard.

"What? No way! Santa does exist!" Sora wailed in protest.

"Trust me, he doesn't," Riku responded blandly.

"I don't trust you!" The boy said; voice thick with disbelieve.

"You don't trust me?" Riku turned to Sora, grazing his hands above his heart as if he was hurt by it.

The boy was taken aback. "No. I mean…I trust you! But I don't trust your words with Santa's existence, because he exists!"

"Santa Claus doesn't exist." The vampire reiterated blandly.

"How do you know?" Sora snapped his head and glared at Riku.

The vampire shrugged again. "I just know. I've been around the worlds. There's ports where pirates exist, a space swarming with androids, town of Halloween lurking with ghosts, coliseum that held strange creatures to battle with, etc." He paused, drawing a breath. "But Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora's jaw dropped, blue eyes looked shock enough to make Riku feel bad for revealing this information. "But…but why? Vampires exist, why not Santa too? Maybe you're wrong! Maybe you haven't been to all the worlds just yet; there could still be other worlds you haven't explored! Or…or maybe the door to Christmas Town could be located near Halloween town and you didn't find it!"

"Holloween and Christmas? Don't you think it's a little irrelevant?" The vampire dipped his head slightly to level with Sora's shorter form.

"I don't believe you! Santa does exist!" Sora almost whined.

"Fine, I can't convince your stubborn little spiky head anyway." Riku rolled his eyes and he heard Sora growl.

A moment of silence reigned.

"Say…you have traveled to all the worlds? I want to hear about it!" The little boy said eagerly.

He'd told hundreds of people of his adventures, he couldn't remember with which person it was that boredom started to creep up on him. He thought this time would be the same.

He was wrong.

And he couldn't really grasp why. Maybe it was the undying curious look in the intense blue eyes that made him think of himself at a younger age, or maybe it was the childish energetic nature that drove him, or maybe it was everything about this kid.

Maybe it was simply because Sora was Sora.

Riku didn't know, not that he'd ever talked to any six year olds before. He knew Sora was different from any other. There was a light in him. Something Riku had long lost and abandoned.

Still, the kid asked so many questions that it started to tire him out. The vampire raised one hand in a gesture to bring a halt to the boy's questioning and thankfully, the boy shut up immediately. Riku was grateful inside, not many kids know how to shut up when they were ordered to, let alone when gestured to.

"You tired?"

And not many kids knew how to read their elders properly.

Riku smiled softly, tiredly, which resulted in Sora scratching the back of his head in…abashment? Riku raised his eyebrow at that, wondering if the hyper kid was capable of that kind of gesture.

"I'm sorry. It's just that…it's lonely. Roxas just left for Twilight Town, although for only a few weeks, but I already miss him," the kid trailed off, seeming rueful for the first time.

"Roxas?" It wasn't that Riku was interest in the said Roxas. Still, if it was anything related to Sora…

"My twin brother," Sora said as he curled up into a ball, small arms draping over small knees. "We've always been together, but our Dad has to go there for his work, Roxas was interested in going, I wasn't."

"That Twilight Town," the vampire said with recognition. "I would prefer staying at that town instead of here." He noticed the kid went quiet immediately and realized his own mistake. "Well, different people, different thoughts." He hoped that made up for it.

"I don't understand, people said that I will, when I grow up. But…isn't it that people wants to stay with their families and friends forever?" Sora asked, confused.

"No, even if they wanted to, they can't always get what they want, or be where they want. Things are complicated when you grow up." Riku's eyes trailed off to the ocean blankly. "Not that I feel any sorts of those feelings. In all honesty, I don't know myself." Riku closed his tired eyes. "You're asking the wrong person."

"You don't feel like being with anyone forever?"

The silver head shook. "I did feel entertained being around certain people. But no, I never felt like being with anyone forever."

"Who've you been with the most?"

"Myself."

Sora's brow furrowed, and his face turned sad.

"Don't look at me like that. As I've said before, I didn't want to be with anyone forever. I can stay with myself. It's been that way for years after years," the vampire said, his face void of emotion.

"Vampires do live forever, don't they?"

"Correct."

Sora didn't know what to say, not knowing what it was like to live forever. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be alone endlessly.

"Riku."

"…Yeah?"

"I like you."

"…?"

"I'm here every Sunday, will you be here again?"

Riku didn't answer. It wasn't the first time that someone had told him they liked him, nor the first time that someone asked him to come back again. But it was the first time from the six year old that was far more open and sincere than any other would be. It felt different.

The boy was waiting, and Riku found it uncomfortable, so he got up. "The sun's killing me, I have to go."

Riku believed that it would be the last thing he'd say to the boy, and it would be the last time he'd ever see the boy.

Again, he was wrong.

X

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

The light bathed the room through the window, casting soft rays on the sleeping boy who turned once and twice before his eyes slowly opened. He groggily sat up and stretched while yawning, and rubbing away drowsiness. He recalled something in a blur and trailed off to himself, "what a weird dream…Wait, it wasn't a dream, or was it? And which one was it? Or both? I don't know…"

A quick look at the clock made him decide that he should just forget it. Swinging his legs to the side, Sora got off the bed and went over his morning rituals then went downstairs, preparing for school.

Roxas was already at the kitchen table, taking a bite of the toasted bread with butter. As the brunet skipped down the stairs, his brother glanced over him, with hidden concern in his eyes.

"Morning, Roxas!" The younger brother chirped, as bright as ever.

Roxas was relieved; his younger always had a knack of making him feel that way. He smiled inside, no matter how much weight the world sometimes crushed on Sora, the boy would only go down temporarily and rebound back up again after that. He could always start anew.

"Morning, Sora." He greeted back with a warm smile, forgetting all the yesterdays. They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence. There was only the two of them; their parents had gone out for work. Though their parents were able to make it back for dinner, it was still only the two of them in the morning.

After they were done, they walked off to school. As of usual lately, Sora felt that Roxas looked kind of gloomy. "Roxas."

"Yeah?" The blond responded.

"Do you…" Sora fidgeted a little, '_arrgghhh'_, he'd finally voiced his thoughts, he should think of something to say, "…miss your friends?"

The taller boy blinked, thinking where that came from all of a sudden. He looked off to the horizon. "Yeah. Haynor, Pence, and Olette. They wanted to see you too Sora," Roxas said carrying a cheerful undertone. Then there was a brief moment of uneasiness in his eyes as he continued. "There was one time that we worked to earn enough munny to get train tickets and come here, but unfortunately someone stole our munny pouch."

"Don't look so down, Roxas! It's not like I can't go there, I'll come for a visit next time!" The younger one said enthusiastically. "I miss them too!"

Sora had been to Twilight Town and had only hung around with Roxas's friend for a short period of time. They got along pretty well. He only knew more about the three through Roxas. He knew that his older twin had a life at Twilight Town rather than Destiny Island. At first, Roxas had only liked the no-mornings-and-nights there. The sun was forever on the horizon. But later he'd made close friends there that stuck like glue.

"Yeah, I'll take you to explore things there; there're these seven wonders about Twilight Town which we had actually solved, but every time one riddle is solved, another just comes popping up."

"That's interesting!"

"It is. And you like the sea salt ice-cream I brought you, don't you?" As Sora nodded considerately, Roxas continued. "There's plenty there. Eating Sea Salt ice-cream while sitting on the Clock Tower, the sunset there was quite a sight to see. And…"

The brunet tilted his head to the side, studying his brother at the sudden change in expression.

Roxas looked troubled. Sora wondered if it was the result of that last thing he'd said about sea salt ice-cream and sunset. Why it was bothering Roxas, he couldn't tell. Maybe Roxas just missed that time? Or maybe he missed someone he'd spent his time eating sea salt ice-cream and watching the sunset with? Was it his friends? Was it someone else? Sora wouldn't know.

"You look sad, Roxas." Sora commented and regretted saying it as he hurriedly clamped his mouth shut. He'd always been a straightforward type.

"Hmm, I'm not that sad, dummy. I've got you here, and that's the reason I'm here anyway." The taller grinned at the smaller one.

Sora then picked up his pace, leaving Roxas slightly behind, he said back. "That's really cheesy!"

Cracking a chuckle, Roxas quickened his pace to catch up with Sora. "You started it!"

They both ran one after another to the school, while thoughts were running through Sora's mind.

'_Last night…'_ Then his blue eyes widened in realization. 'Riku came, we talked, eh, then after that…I think it was a dream after that…me and Riku…' Sora looked up at the sky, thinking hard and stilll he couldn't remember. He tilted his head back down again and looked at the far off horizon.

'_But wasn't that a dream?'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

At school, no one brought up yesterday's event. It was like an unspoken understanding that was shared between them. Things come and go. An accident like _'Sora meeting someone and not be able to help that someone and that someone is gone'_ always happened since the boy himself like to jump right in when people needed help and get himself dragged along by their troubles. If at last things didn't turn out right, Sora would go back home, disappointed, but he would be recovered by the next day.

It wasn't like Sora knew this guy for a long time, so he shouldn't be worrying over a stranger that he barely knew over a day.

The brunet thought hard again. He wasn't sure if Riku had been there. To Sora, meeting Riku made him feel like he was dreaming and yet he believed it was not. Either way, he decided not to think much about it, unless he met Riku again.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

How was it? So it was revealed that Riku wasn't a normal vampire who drained blood for living. I've revised the 1st chapter as well in the beginning where Riku reflected that he was tired of killing someone else for blood. Change of plans, more about this Nobody vampire will be revealed later.

About Roxas's taste, I've just seen in youtube video where player can access Roxas's room by code or something (man, I really wanna try that but didn't know how) to look around. I've noticed that there are books, a little more than average. And room decoration that Sora and Roxas have in common is the star.

Review please?


	3. Ch 3 So Nostalgic

My apologies for keeping on revising this. Last time I've revised about Riku's age and the number of years that things happened. So…from Riku with the age of 256, it is now 156. It's only the timeline that I'd revised though. I can hardly keep it in control as I've jumped to and from past and present.

Uh, yeah, no offense about pubs or nightlife. I've seen in movies all the time that vampires went to pubs. I just thought that KH doesn't really go along with pubs (my opinion).

Edited with the help of xShootingStarx on 30/10/08

**Saving 3 So Nostalgic**

Days rolled by as Sora hadn't seen Riku at all, making him believe that what had happened must have only been a dream.

Until came the day…

After school was over, Sora waited for his friends. He casually walked along the hallway and came across the gym. Passing the Kendo Club's Room, no one was inside; they all went to the tournament. Out of boredom and being in the process of trying to find something entertaining, he slipped in.

The room was eerily silent. Sora grabbed one of the wooden swords and swung it absentmindedly. He recalled some students from Kendo Club (or other clubs) had requested for him to join them, but he never did. Despite the number of friends Sora had made and how open he was, he never bound or devoted himself to anything seriously. He was being extremely carefree; it allowed him to come and go as he pleased. He found that kind of life endearing. However, sometimes, he found himself running around in circles, not being able to have anything he could truly rely on, or wanting to return to.

Yet there was only one place that he frequented often since he was seven. Sora didn't know how or why, but going to the island's cave made him feel like he belonged. Yet he had always felt that something was missing. So he took his best friend, Kairi, there, hoping that empty feeling in his heart would go away.

They drew pictures of each other, having fun playing around, but the emptiness in Sora's heart never left.

That was until they grew up a few inches and Kairi wasn't into entering gloomy caves anymore. After that, Sora always went there alone, and yet he still felt the emptiness.

He continued to toy with the wooden sword. Sora had been told that his sword skills were quite something, as if he had been taught properly to some degree. Which was weird, since he couldn't recall having been trained properly…by anyone.

Pacing closer to the window, he looked to the night outside that was illuminated by the faint lights. He was too caught up with his random thoughts, so he was caught off guard when a dark figure sprung into his vision from the window with a "BOO!"

"Uwaaah!" The brunet screamed out and instinctively backed away, whipping the wooden sword and almost hitting the subject of his fright had that object not evaded the blow. Sora held the wooden material tighter as he studied the figure and recognized it. He snarled, "Riku! Man, quit that already! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The silver-haired vampire grinned and swiftly leapt through the window.

'_So…it wasn't a dream…'_

A sense of déjà vu filled Sora. That aside, he was happy. He lowered the bamboo sword. "Where have you been all this time?"

"Nowhere."

It was obvious that he didn't want to answer and Sora felt that he shouldn't push it. He didn't know why, but he trusted that Riku wouldn't go out and hurt anyone. He didn't need to worry about that.

"So you came after all."

"Well, you asked me to come, so here I am," Riku pointed out.

"I did?"

Riku eyed the boy skeptically. "You forgot." It wasn't a question.

Catching the hint of disappointment in Riku's eyes, Sora's shoulders drooped guiltily. "Sorry, I can't remember. I only remember us talking about your adventures. And…is that all to it? I feel like there's more to it."

'_More to it?' _Riku raised his eyebrow. "It was ten at night. I heard your brother's footsteps and you needed to pretend to be asleep. You were already half-asleep though, when you requested my next visit."

Sora nodded dumbly.

Riku glanced back at the boy, noting the wooden sword in his hand and mentioned, "You're in the club?"

"Uh…no."

"You any good with that?"

With one finger, he scratched one side of his cheek and smiled sheepishly. "Ehh…" Sora found himself lost for words. He barely lost a duel even with someone from kendo club, which made him confident about his skills. However, he had a feeling that it might be different with Riku.

"You don't know? You're not sure?" The taller boy trailed off then grabbed one of the bamboo swords from its place. He swung it around to test the object. "Let's find out then."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku smile inside, but it came out as a smirk. Something inside of him stirred. Sparring the boy reminded him of something…or rather someone. Riku felt it was familiar. Unknown to him, Sora felt the same way. But both of them were busy at the moment, so they didn't really give it much thought.

"You've got a strong determination, which is good. But don't focus only on attacking; it could cloud your judgment. You need to estimate my evasive areas and an initiative strike," Riku advised, and caught a glimpse of frustration on Sora's face. He assumed the boy wasn't really much for someone telling him what to do.

But then, Sora was taking his time before his next strike, so Riku knew the boy was listening.

"Try not to crouch too much when you're waiting, it's good for not leaving anywhere unprotected, but it will tire out your knees. So you might want to crouch…a little less." Came another piece advice.

Sora blinked, and he suddenly stood up straight like a pole that Riku had to chuckle at the boy's attention.

It was a good several minutes later that they decided to stop.

"Should we stop here? You're straining yourself," asked Riku.

"No!"

"You're getting better by the minute," Riku complimented and added. "I know I see the potential in you."

Sora's sword collided with Riku's and they were face to face. "Really?" The boy asked with a childlike excitement in his eyes, and Riku found himself grinning in amusement.

"Really," Riku confirmed. "I've never had to use this amount of stamina with someone new to sword fighting."

"I used to duel with Tidus all the time. Maybe next time, you could meet him? We can all play Blitzball-" Sora asked good-naturedly.

Riku dropped the fighting stance, causing his companion to do the same. He ran his hand through his silver hair and sighed, looking away from the boy that wouldn't yet give up on dragging him to meet his friends. "I don't know what Blitzball is, and I don't care. For your answer, I'd rather not; I don't like meeting people."

Sora's eyes filled with discontentment. "But you came to see me, what's the difference?"

At that, Riku advanced to the boy, his taller form towering over Sora. He stared down at the boy who still blinked up at him. He knew that look, a look so innocent, which he'd encountered several times before he _crushed_ the hell out of it. "There is a difference, Sora."

The brunet felt that there was something meaningful behind those words and he ventured, "What is it then?"

Riku sighed exasperatedly at first. Then it was followed by something that Sora was surprised to see: Riku looked lost. Sora had always seen Riku as composed and calculated, but the taller boy looked different when Sora brought the issue up. Upon Riku's silence, Sora raised his hands. "It's fine. If you don't want to talk, then just forget about it."

"Yeah. You're tired, that's it for today." The taller boy announced as he made his way to the bamboo sword's holder and placed the object back where it belonged.

"Are you angry?" The smaller boy suddenly asked.

"No. Why should I be?" Riku still had his back turned to the boy from where he was situated.

"You look kinda lost."

Everything around Riku stopped and went dead silence for a while and he wondered aloud, "Do I?"

Sora had been holding back the questions that he needed answers from Riku, but Riku's current mood worried him more. "Riku. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. But it would be better if you could just talk about it," Sora suggested.

For a moment, the thought of reading the boy's mind was tempting but Riku beat it down. How could he tell the boy? Narrowing his eyes, he closed the distance between them. He reached out and tugged the brunet strands between his fingers. "Sora, how I wish I could tell you…maybe I can tell you, or maybe, I have already told you."

"Huh?"

"I've been having these dreams, that this felt familiar…I think we have met-"

Sora couldn't hear the last word clearly as it was drowned out by another voice calling out.

"Sora!"

Both boys turned and found the redheaded girl standing at the door way. Her violet eyes full of bewilderment, probably because of finding Sora _that _close to some stranger.

There were another curly brown-haired girl and two boys just behind her, the shorter one with blond hair and the other with orange hair, both having tan skin. They all had backpacks in their hands.

When they brought themselves into the room, their eyes studied the taller figure which they were not at all familiar with.

Riku's hand fell away from Sora's face as he murmured, "later then." He turned to leave but he was stopped.

"Wa-Wait! Why do you always have to leave so suddenly? And, wait a minute; you're going to get out through the window? There's a door!" The brunet had both of his hands tugging at Riku's coat. "Aww, come on, Riku! Don't be so shy, meet my friends!"

With that, the vampire snarled in frustration at the smaller boy. "Shy? Who are you calling shy!"

Kairi had positioned herself at Sora's side. She was taking a good look at the vampire, her frown deepened and the silver-haired boy happened to notice it. She found him untrustworthy which Riku suddenly was reminded of a protective mother cat.

Lacing both of his hands behind his back, Sora grinned. "Everyone, meet Riku." He motioned from his friends to the vampire accordingly. "Riku, this is Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka."

Selphie looked up and down on Riku and chirped, "Haven't seen you around here, are you from somewhere else?"

"Yeah," Riku only gave a short reply, which demonstrated that he didn't want to get into it. And thankfully, the curly haired girl didn't push the subject.

"Next time come play Blitzball with us!" Tidus invited when there was a short awkward pause.

"I don't know anything about it," Riku said, trying to manage a smile, but failed.

"It's not hard. I can teach ya!" Wakka offered with brotherly atmosphere.

It made Riku feel weird. _'Is everyone on this Island this open and friendly?'_ Then his eyes traveled to Kairi who hadn't said a single word. When he met her gaze, the girl looked somewhere else.

And her violet eyes happened to fell upon Sora's features. She grabbed one of Sora's arms. "Sora, what are these bruises?"

Kairi's voice had been a little higher than normal, thick with concern and it caught everyone's attention.

"Is Sora hurt?" Selphie asked worriedly, moving to take a better look.

The said boy quickly shook his head. "I was dueling with Riku a little; I didn't wear the Kendo uniform, that's why." He shrugged, and declared with enthusiastic voice, "Guys! Riku's really good with a sword."

Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka had gotten over with Sora's bruises, which left only Kairi who remained silent through out the ordeal.

When Selphie noticed the tension in the air, particularly between Kairi and Riku, she nudged Kairi, causing the redhead to manage something. "Uh, hi. Nice to meet you."

"…same here." Riku forced himself not to look away, to be polite. It wasn't like he disliked the girl. He just didn't feel like getting involved with anyone else. Moreover, he could tell the girl was suspecting him of something, but he couldn't care less.

"Riku, we're all going to my house for a sleepover, you want to come?" Sora offered easily.

The vampire once again found himself wondering why he saw no protest in anyone's eyes, except the redhead girl of course. He shook his head, "I have somewhere else to be."

For a moment, the vampire caught sight of Sora who looked unconvinced by his line. But the boy only closed his eyes and smile. "Maybe next time then. You know where I am. There are still lots I want to hear from you." Then Sora ushered his friends out of the room.

As Sora's group and Riku parted on the school ground, the vampire glanced back. He wasn't surprised to see that the girl named Kairi rushed Sora with numerous questions, probably all involving him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What was that about, Sora? Who is he?" Kairi glared at her friend. "He already knew where you lived? Did he go to your house? How long have you known him?"

"He's Riku, you know, the one that I was looking for when we had gone to the island last time. And yeah, he sort of, knew where I lived. I met him that day when you saw me looking for him" Sora answered accordingly, unawared of her frantic.

Kairi narrowed her eyes as she warned, "You've got to be careful of outsiders, especially as you've never seen him around here much."

"Why? Riku's only a boy," Sora returned automatically, even though it contradicted what he knew. Riku was a vampire, but it didn't matter to him.

His best friend then smacked her hand up against her forehead. "Okay, he's only a boy I see, even good looking I might add. But I got this…feeling…and it's kind of odd to wear that black cloak here on this island."

The brunet boy clasped his hands behind his neck, standing up straight. "I'm not concerned about how people dress. He's kind of cool."

"He's the kind of person that keeps changing, and is far from human. No one can understand him fully." It came off more ambiguous than Kairi intended to. Everyone was staring at her in confusion so she summarized, "He's weird. I don't trust him."

Selphie arched an eyebrow. Being a friend of the two for so long, she'd always witnessed Sora and Kairi usually agreeing with each other on most matters. There were however, on rare occasions, that they opposed Still, they were like two sides of the same coin.

Now Kairi was having her feeling against this Riku.

Seeing the dark clouds forming over Sora's head, Selphie decided it was time to come to his aid. "Come on, Kairi. You're not normally this way around new friends. It's not that bad, Riku's cool. What made you think he's bad?"

"He's just dangerous," Kairi warned, but she knew Sora's stubbornness was like her own. "Just…be careful, okay?"

"Okay!" Sora provided a huge grin which didn't reassure Kairi at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Yeah, I can't wait to go back and see you guys again. But Sora keeps me worried. I wish I could take him with me there." A pause. "What? Bro…brother complex? What the hell is that?" Another pause. "No, no, no, Hayner. There're things lurking dangerously out there, and you guys won't believe me, my stupid little brother won't believe me! Therefore I'm worried!" Roxas went quiet for a long while as he switched his role to listening. "….Nah….I'm okay."

"Roxas?"

The said boy tilted his head back and saw the subject of his conversation behind him.

He twitched his eyebrow when his brother looked at him with _that _look on his face. "What?" His tone almost snapped, trying to look angry at the interruption, and wondered if his brother had heard the conversation. He mumbled into the phone, "It's Sora," then Roxas eyed back at his twin. "Make it quick, coins almost out."

Getting the message, Sora nodded. Roxas was, after all, using the public telephone in the school, most likely conversing with his friends in Twilight Town. "I'm going into town with Kairi and the others to buy stuffs for our projects, will be back before six."

Roxas nodded, he always gave easy permission if Sora was with Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, or Wakka.

Grinning, Sora reached pass his brother's face and inserted some coins into its receiver. Then he ran off, wavering cheerfully to the blond. "Say hi to Hayner for me!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora joined his friends at the front gate of the school and they started off into the heart of the town. They got sidetracked after their goals of getting the stuff for their project was met.

They were about to head home when the sight of a bookstore came into view.

The four of them always wondered why Kairi had grown to like books. No one had really thought that Kairi liked to read or write; it didn't really fit her outgoing personality. Then again, no one ever thought that a chirpy little girl like Selphie would have such high interest in mechanism.

Sora had been the only one who wasn't surprised when Kairi said she wanted to write stories and draw pictures for children's books. When they were younger, only the two of them used to draw together.

Kairi and Selphie went into the bookstore. The two girls were in the different sections: Selphie, in the mechanism category, while Kairi was in the children's section. Her violet eyes scanned over many books, and halted to one that caught her interest.

The cover was in blue and pink with a simple sketchy drawing with the title of _'Kingdom Hearts.'_

There was only one left.

She reached for it but someone's hand had also caught the book at the same time. She hurriedly said, "oh, sorry-" as she looked up, her eyes went wide.

"No, it's okay," the stranger said, looking up as well and met the girl's shocked gaze.

"You, it's you!" Kairi pointed a finger at him…accusingly.

The silver-haired boy quirked his eyebrow and managed to state, "Kairi,"

"You…Riku!" The girl raised her voice again, but low enough to keep it between the two of them. "Why are you here!"

The person who was being questioned shrugged. "Well, don't people in bookstore come to read books?"

Kairi glared at him. "Are you sure? Or are you just following Sora around?" The girl had her hands on her hips by now, looking ready to blow a fuse any minute.

That left Riku wondering why this friend of Sora would have to offend him this much. But he had something else he was obliged to find out. He merely ignored her question and looked around. "Is Sora here?"

"NO," Kairi answered with a cold voice.

"You just asked if I am following him around, so he must be around here." His oceanic green eyes settled back on her with a smirk tugging on his lips.

The girl practically growled and ran off, not forgetting to drag a surprised Selphie out too.

"That was fast, ya?" Wakka remarked when the two girls came running out of the store.

"Let's get out of here!" Kairi quickly urged all of them.

"Whoa? What's the rush, Kairi?" Tidus and Selphie questioned in unison.

Kairi only started pushing at Sora's back, and beckoned all of them to start moving.

But she was too late, or more like…she hadn't been fast enough compared to the person she was competing with. A tap landed on her shoulder, accompanied by a voice she didn't want to hear, much less see the owner of. Or to be more precise, didn't want Sora to meet him.

"You forgot your book."

Sora, who had his head tilted back in Kairi's direction, smiled. The girl sighed heavily at that; accepting the fact of who Sora was smiling at.

"Riku!" The brunet exclaimed with a happy grin.

Kairi's hand slackened at her side, giving up.

"Hey," Riku said to Sora with a slight smile while he acknowledged the others for the sake of manner. Riku turned to Kairi again and nudged a brown paper bag which apparently held the book inside into Kairi's hand. "You wanted this, didn't you?"

The girl looked at the paper bag then at the silver-haired boy skeptically, and shook her head. Somehow, it was obvious to everyone that she really wanted the book. Kairi always picked the right one when it came to books.

Riku leveled the book to their eyes. "You sure? I'm sure it's a good book. There's only one here on this Island. You won't be able to find-"

"Fine, fine, I'll take it!" The girl snapped while shoving her hands into her bags.

"It's paid for, you can take it," the vampire urged.

Kairi didn't listen, she shoved the right amount of payment for the book in front of Riku's vision and repeated his earlier words, "just take it!"

Sora only watched the two's heated exchange, or more like Kairi was the only one who was boiling. The brunet wondered why, and Selphie asked her for him.

"Kairi, don't you think you're being somewhat…rude to him? He's just being nice to you," Selphie whispered to her friend.

Riku only crossed his arms over his chest, and looked uninterested.

Kairi heaved another long sigh and looked up at Riku sharply. "Okay, sorry for being rude. Nice to see you _around _here, but we're done, so we're gonna go. Bye bye." Yet again, she tried to push Sora's back, but the brunet didn't budge along this time.

"Heey, what's the rush Kairi, we're not in a hurry, are we?" Sora said as he slipped out of Kairi's pushing hands. He advanced to Riku and waved his hand up in a greeting gesture. "Hey there. How's it going?"

The silver-haired boy returned the gesture leisurely, his other arm still folded over his chest.

"Come to sightsee the town? I thought you didn't like crowded places. Well, Destiny Town isn't very crowded anyway. Find anything interesting?" The brunet asked casually.

The taller boy nodded, uncrossing his arms, and pointed at Sora.  
The brunet mirrored Riku's action, pointing at himself. "What? I…what?"

Kairi's eyebrows pulled into a tight knot, understanding Riku's hidden message. And from the way Selphie started giggling, she knew that her friend most likely knew it too while their three male friends were oblivious to Riku's gesture. As her eyes traveled back to Sora, she became a little angrier.  
Riku was inclining his head towards Sora's ear, whispering something to the boy.

When the taller one pulled back, Sora looked up at him hesitantly and responded. "Well, that has to wait until I get everyone back home. It's a few blocks away, can you wait till then? Or you can come with us too, and we'll go together."

Obviously the stranger was asking Sora to go with him somewhere. But why did he have to be so secretive? Although he didn't mind that Sora's answer had been audible. Before Kairi could step in and stop it, both boys had already nodded to each other in silent agreement.

"I'll wait in there." The silver-haired boy dipped his head towards the bookstore, and soon walked into it.

"What was that about?" Selphie asked, and her mind processed the answer herself shortly after. She raised a hand to her mouth with an, "oh, Riku asked you out."

Kairi shot a glare at Selphie for her choice of words. Her glare disappeared in seconds and was replaced with a dumbstruck look when Sora only nodded.

"But I'll walk you guys back first," Sora said.

"You're gonna go with Riku? That's okay; we can take it from here," Tidus offered.

"Yeah, you can go with him now, ya? I can take care of these three." Wakka added.

"Yep, not like it's your responsibility to take care of us, Sora. We're old enough!" Selphie supported.

While Sora looked thankful, Kairi looked like she was stabbed in the back.

"But don't you have to go home before six, according to Roxas?" The redhead girl almost smiled at the point she could reason with.

The brunet looked momentarily down, but his eyes sparked up slightly. "Today Roxas said he'll be back at eight. I can make it at home before him. I'll just give a ring to my Mom."

When Kairi started fidgeting again, Selphie immediately wrapped one of her arm around Kairi's neck. "Aww, come on, Kairi. Let Sora have a life of his own sometimes."

That struck Kairi, she was aware that maybe she was meddling too much. But then again, _'this is Sora they are talking about: dense, naïve, and totally clueless Sora.'_ People didn't know about certain things that had happened to Sora before. Only Roxas and she did.

How could she not worry?

"Remember what I said before?" Kairi asked, out of nowhere. When Sora only nodded dumbly, Kairi reminded him again, "I don't trust Riku."

Sora regarded her with a cheerless smile. "Look, Kairi, you worry too much. Riku really is just…lonely."

The girl sighed, fidgeting with the paper bag in her hand. "Okay, I'm not going to stop you, not that I can anyway. But just be careful, okay? If anything, you've got to tell me."

"I will!" Sora said with cheerful grin. Then he dashed off; waving at her.

Kairi could only anxiously watch him leave.

When they turned to leave, Selphie trailed off, "Honestly, Kairi. I think you worry too much about him. It's like Sora said, Riku does look lonely."

"Ya think so!" Wakka agreed.

"He seems to open up to Sora only." Tidus clasped his hand behind his head and looked up. "You know, how people who are distant could open up to Sora. I guess there's something about him."

Kairi's eyes softened at that. Right, there was something about Sora that made him special.

The four of them started heading back into their hometown. When they separated on their way home, Selphie took another approach in an attempt to cheer her depressed friend up a bit.

"Kairi, I know how you feel about him. What's there to worry about with Sora going alone with Riku? Riku is a guy."

Kairi's frown deepened as she ran a hand through her hair. "No, Selphie. It was because that Riku is a guy, a suspicious looking guy that gives me a bad feeling. Bad things had happened to Sora before, in a similar situation. But Sora never learned, I'm afraid his luck won't hold out forever."

Selphie quirked her eyebrow but sensing that her friend wouldn't want to talk, she held back her question.

'_I just hope history won't repeat itself.'_ Kairi trailed off to herself as she shifted the object in her hands. "Oh, I almost forgot about this." Then her eyes went a little wide in realization as she removed the book from the paper bag.

Selphie looked at the book and then at the redhead. "What's wrong with the book, Kairi?"

"It's a story book. And why would a person like Riku read such books?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You like children books?"

Riku's eyes shifted from the book he was holding to the owner of the voice, he arched one eyebrow and smoothed his face into a neutral expression. He put the book back on the stand. "Yeah."

"You know, Kairi loves children's books too-"

Riku cut in, "Sora, I would appreciate it if we could forget about her when we're alone. I know you want us to get along but she obviously doesn't. So I don't need you to push."

Sora went speechless as his eyes momentarily expressed something Riku didn't want to see and didn't mean to cause. Sora's head dropped with a soft mutter of "sorry."

The taller of the two was taken aback. He tried to think of what to say and failed to come up with words, so action took place. He ruffled Sora's hair. "Eh, just forget it. Don't sulk."

The said sulking boy's expression was replaced by a glare instead, which made Riku chuckle as he continued ruffling the other's hair. Then Riku frowned a little.

"It's soft."

"What?"

"Your hair, it's soft."

"So what?"

"It looks spiky, so I had no idea it could be this soft."

The said spiky-haired boy batted the hand away. "Would you forget about the hair!" Sora huffed, though his anger was dimming. "So, where do you want to take me to?"

The vampire shrugged. "Anywhere?"

"I thought you said you wanted to take me somewhere," Sora reminded.

Riku looked to the side again, and rubbed the back of his neck. For the first time since they'd met, Sora noted that the smug vampire could also be confounded at times.

"I don't really have an idea; I just want you to stay with me, that's all."

"Hmm." Sora half-narrowed his eyes in a playful manner, then his eyes brightened up a bit. "Have you done sightseeing around the town?"

"Not really."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to go for one."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The clock struck 7pm as they both sat on the bench in the Town Square, a clock tower hovering above them. After making a call to his mother, Sora had nothing much to worry about, he sat with his head tilted back over his shoulder, peering up the night sky, his arms outstretched over the bench. Riku, meanwhile was inclining forward, hands clasped, and arms resting on his knees, eyes staring off to where citizens walked by.

Riku stole glances at Sora from time to time. He'd been around the universe, traveling from one world to another, meeting places and faces that he'd found amusing. But his interests had run dry and he found nothing of importance to him any longer. Everything he looked at was the same old thing and his surroundings all turned dull.

Somehow, it seemed to be different when he was with Sora.

"Riku, where do you live?" Sora suddenly posted.

"Nowhere," the vampire replied and saw the disappointment in the boy's gesture. "Hey, I don't mean to be secretive, it's the truth."

"So…can't I find you anywhere when I want to see you? I mean, you knew where I lived; you popped out of nowhere to see me."

Riku was aware of how much Sora wanted to know about his simple background. But he couldn't find it in himself to tell Sora, he couldn't imagine Sora's response should he told the boy about what he'd done in the past. He thought he knew how almost every human he had ever encountered would react, but everything turned in unexpected ways when it came to Sora. He didn't want to risk it.

"Okay, fine. How about if I ask you more simple questions. Where do vampires usually go to?" Upon receiving a skeptical look from Riku, he raised his hands in defending manners. "Hey, this is not personal, is it?"

The other shook his head briefly. "No. For you'd never pressed on a subject that I wished not to talk about, I'm very grateful for it." He waited for the words to sink in. Sora didn't look touched by it. "Well, for your question, it's a pub. At least that's what I know from the other vampires that I've encountered. It's quite typical for normal vampires, right? Coincidentally, same goes with some Nobody-vampires."

"A pub?"

"Have you ever been to one?"

The boy shook his head.

"Well, I-" Before Riku could finish, he automatically paused when Sora said something at the same time.

"Why don't we go there?" The brunet suggested and turned to his companion. "Are you going to say something?" When Riku shook his head briefly, the boy urged. "Well? Are we going? I still have an hour before I have to get back home, but I don't see any pubs around here."

"There's one on the outskirt of this town. It's about fifteen minutes walk from here, if you want to go."

"Why not then? I've never been to one, let's try it out."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Man, I'm never gonna go back there again," Sora said and hiccupped. "Eh, no offense."

Riku had to hide his smile. He had no idea that Sora would easily get drunk by only a few gulps. At first, the boy seemed to be having fun, getting easy drinks from strangers. That was when Riku discovered that Sora was opened to anyone. Anyhow, Sora was literally groped by someone else. While, Sora expressed that he didn't like it, Riku was outright fuming. He agreed immediately when Sora had asked if they could leave.

Therefore, they were heading back to the main town. Sora staggered, having Riku's arms on his waist, and his arm, draping over Riku's neck for support.

"To tell you the truth, I don't like that kind of place," Riku trailed off. When given a questioning look from Sora, he said, "I hadn't finished my answer earlier. Well, most vampires do. But not me."

"I see, you didn't look like you were…enjoying at all." Sora's nose took a few sniffs. His brows creased. "Oh no, I smell like…smoke and alcohol."

"You look like one too, drunk boy," the vampire commented with a chuckle and received a glare in return.

"My parents will scold me for sure, what's worse is Roxas will probably kill me," the brunet said with a tone between a joke and being serious.

"Sora, you still have some time. Why don't we go to the sea?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The night was quiet as it always had been for Destiny Island at such an hour.

Their feet passed the yellow sandy beach that sloped down into the ocean. The brunet brightened up at the sight of the sea, he motioned for Riku to let go so he could run down to the sand, laughing along.

"You look like a five year old," Riku commented bluntly.

"I'm already fifteen!" The brunet yelled back, laughing still.

To Riku's surprise, the boy didn't stop when he reached the edge of the sea, Sora continued dashing and going directly into the water. Then it seemed that the boy's feet had given out or something, causing him to land with his face into the ocean.

"Sora!" Riku hurried after.

To his relief, the boy's head swiveled out of the water, a huge smile still plastered on his face. Sora grinned back at him and waved. Perceptibly, he was still a little drunk, but the action was on purpose. Riku waited patiently until Sora came sloshing back up and only then did he get an explanation.

"I…don't smell like smoke and alcohol anymore." The boy clambered to the shore and plopped himself down on the sand.

Riku found himself laughing again. Not smiling, not smirking, but actually laughing, something he wasn't so accustomed to lately, up until he met Sora.

The soaked boy glared at him playfully. "What's so funny, Riku? You laughed once before, I don't see anything funny!"

Letting his laughter die down, yet Riku didn't answer. Sora forgot about it and clasped his hands to cushion his head.

"Hey boy, you can't sleep here. You need to get home first. You'll get sick if you don't change."

"I never got sick running around with wet clothes from the ocean since I was young."

"Okay, but you still need to get home if you want to sleep."

"What time is it?"

The vampire tilted his head up, oceanic green eyes gazed at the moon attentively, and he said, "Seven, thirty."

"You know the time by looking at the moon?" Sora turned his wide eyes to Riku in awe. When Riku nodded, he 'wow-ed,' and looked up at the starry night. "Still have some time. Don't know when I'll ever see you again."

The words created butterflies in Riku's stomach; he looked down at the boy and asked playfully. "What? You like me that much?"

They both knew it was just a joke, so Riku was caught off guard when Sora regarded him with a serious expression for the second time to day.  
"You'll think it's funny…but…being around you gives me this funny sense of…nostalgia." The boy frowned slightly, at himself. "Have we…uh…have you ever come to this island before?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure, but it feels familiar," Riku slowly replied, carefully thinking through every word.

Aware that the other was thinking about the matter, Sora rolled to the side, facing Riku. "Hey, Riku. What did you want to tell me back at the Kendo Club Room? You know, before Kairi came."

"…Well, that…I think we…" _'have met? How could that possibly be? I have no recollection of that, and I've never forgot anything since then.'_

From words, they crafted an image in Riku's mind: there was a boy, clad in white shirt and red pants, brown-haired, and blue eyes.

"Riku," the brunet's voice cut in Riku's thought. He watched as Sora pushed himself up and didn't care to dust off the grains of sands. "I think it's time I should go."

The vampire nodded, realizing that he had taken too much time in answering that, Sora must have taken it that the answer would never come. But that was only because Riku himself didn't know the answer too.

"Right."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wanna come in?"

"Better not. You know how parents won't let there kids be friend with Vampires," Riku said between a cracked smile.

"Ha ha, right." Somehow, Sora already knew Riku's answer, as well as the _real _reason. Sora pulled the doorknob open. "Well, bye."

"Sora!"

The brunet turned.

"At the island, between the small cliff leading to the tree house and the waterfalls, there's a thicket covering the entrance to a small fissure that leads to the cave inside. I am there when I sleep, most of the time."

For the first time that day, Riku saw a delighted expression on the boy's face, followed by a huge sunny grin. Then Sora gave a hearty nod, showing that he took a great pleasure in receiving that information.

"That cave?" Sora_ knew_ that cave,but before he could say anything, Riku jerked his head to the side where the path was.

"I think your brother's coming, I'll take my leave."

The boy's eyes went wide slightly and nodded. They exchanged last waves; whatever was left to say must have to wait. Sora hurried in the house while Riku disappeared into the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kairi has a good sense in seeing through people, I believed. She goes with Donald and Goofy without any question, not knowing them at all; she gets along with Pluto and go with him and not going with Axel. She goes with Namine and not with Saix. And she knows it's really Riku despite the outer shell of Xehanort's heartless.

I don't know much about writing fighting scene and all, so I've just written down what I saw on games, hope it was okay at least.

I'd figured that some hobby is needed to link Roxas and Kairi to Riku (since I made the two initially hate Riku). What would it be? Books! Roxas has books in his room. As for Kairi, she writes the letter to Sora in KHII which is written in poem, figures she must like text too. And Riku as well, is given the room in Hollow Bastian which contains an amount of books.


	4. Interlude 1 the Book of KHI

Here lies something that would add up to the main story. I decided to take some reflection of KH before I get into the main plot. Hope you enjoy?

Guess my begging didn't work out last time. Gah, anyway, I would keep writing. Care to comment?

Re-editted with XShootingStarX's help on 01/12/08

**Interlude 1 The Book of KHI Part I**

After Sora and his friends had encountered Riku in the heart of town, Sora noticed that Kairi had been carrying around the book she got from Riku. It seemed to become the object of her affection.

When Roxas and Sora headed to join Kairi for lunch, they found her sitting on the hall bench, her nose buried in that book. Having heard from her that she and Riku had picked the same book at the same time, Sora was interested.

"Kairi," he greeted her, and asked out of curiosity, "That's the book Riku bought you yesterday, right? You seem to be fond of it. What's it about?"

The redhead girl noted the twin's presence and answered. "This book's really great. Although it would be much better if that Riku wasn't the one who handed it to me." She rolled her eyes at that last statement.

Roxas nodded in agreement, causing Sora to defend his friend, "Aww, come on. He's not that bad!"

"Fine, fine," his twin brother and his best friend said in unison.

"So what's it about?" Sora repeated.

"It's about three children who dream of leaving their home island and going on adventures to other worlds," Kairi started. Upon receiving a nod to go on, she continued, "There are two boys and a girl. The two boys are inseparable; they've been best friends since they were little, since before the girl shows up. One boy is smarter than the other, being one year older, but the other is livelier."

"Whoa, wait, that's confusing. Don't they have names?" Sora interjected softly, he didn't mean to interrupt. But he was interested; he wanted to make sure he understands it.

"Nope, they don't have names," Kairi answered briskly. She flipped the book opened, for the twin to see. "The characters are distinguished by their hair colors and outfits. Look, the girl is redhead. The younger boy has brown hair. The older one has silver hair."

The twins looked at the pictures. The story book was in a simple, sketchy style, no real emotions were painted on the characters' faces. It was the kind of a book which left much to the reader's imagination.

"So…basically, when the girl arrives, the boys start to compete against one another over her. Actually, the older boy always try to push the younger one into a competition, and the younger always take it to seriously, because he feels the girl is important to him. Somehow, they all remain being best friends. The brown-haired boy and the redhead girl look up to the silver-haired boy when he speaks of his dreams about going to other worlds, believing they exist. So they decide to build a raft, in hopes of sailing off to explore new horizons."

"A raft? What an idea, take the raft and sail out to the sea, to explore the worlds that they don't even know exist," Roxas commented.

"It's just a story book, Roxas," Sora spoke up. "They're young and energetic. What's so bad about wanting to discover new things?"

Kairi darted her glance at the two, a small smile stretched on her lips. The interaction between them was something to be taken into account, as Selphie had claimed.

"Okaayy," the older twin drawled. "I'm just commenting. Do go on, Kairi. I want to know how far they make it."

The girl nodded. "Their plan is foiled anyway. In the night prior to the day of their adventure, a storm arrives and took their island. That storm comes from the darkness which rules the world, it's revealed that that darkness comes from the silver-haired boy's heart, from his hunger to leave the prison island. But where there is darkness, there is also light. The darkness swallows the older boy while the light chose the younger one to be the hero of light."

"Darkness and Light," Sora echoed. Somehow it made him contemplative.

"After the three are separated on that stormy night, the brown-haired one finds himself thrown into an unknown battle. Yet he is willing to go along with his new companions to save the worlds. On the other hand, the silver-haired boy finds himself being acquaintance to the being of darkness who wants to steal people's hearts and use its power for their own. When both boys reunite, the one who's consumed by the darkness comprehends wrongly that the brown haired boy is busy playing hero and cares more about his new friends than old friends. So he turns his back on the younger one and set out to find the girl. He did find her, but her heart has been stolen."

"This doesn't sound like a children's book at all. Some kind of philosophy?" Roxas mumbled to Sora.

"The two boys met and exchange bitter words all along their journey. On their last encounter, the silver-haired boy opens his heart to the darkness, he's completely controlled by it. The brown-haired boy has no choice but to take his best friend down. He wins and saves the girl, but his silver-haired friend is lost to the darkness after using his last strength to help his friends once he gained back his right mind. The brown-haired boy takes the girl to a safe place and goes back for his friend, as well as to beat the darkness. He wins the battle at last."

Kairi saw that she wasn't losing her audience.

"After the battle, the silver-haired boy is locked inside the realm of darkness, his being is consumed by the darkness but his heart isn't. His last request to his brown-haired friend is to take care of the girl, who'll be sent to her home island."

"So the silver-haired boy is locked in the darkness? How sad." Roxas commented.

"Yes, the brown-haired boy could go back with the girl now that the worlds are saved, but he doesn't. He promises to come back to her, then he goes back the other way around. In his heart, he just wants to find his best that is locked in the realm of darkness again, with hopes of going back home together. The end," Kairi drawled at the last word.

"Ends that way? I thought it would be something like the brown-haired boy and the girl go back home together. Although it'd be sad for the other one, but isn't that his last wish?" The elder twin remarked.

"That's what I like about this book." Kairi lifted a book to eye level. "On the surface, it gives the feeling that a boy and a girl who has feelings for each other have to go back home together while the other boy has to sacrifice himself for repentance. But when we look into it, it has always been about the two boys. They are always together; though they fell into battles against each other, they still come back to each other. In the end, the older boy actually never harbored any feelings for the girl, she's like a friend and sister. He only wants the younger boy's attention when he's acting competitive over the girl. Because after the girl arrived, the two boys weren't as close as before."

"Hah, I think I know how that feels," Roxas said, eyeing Sora briefly.

Kairi spotted that glance. Little did she know about the twins when they were very young, all she knew was that Roxas used to wish Sora never showed up in this world.

"That's also the reason as to why he's so angry about the brown-haired boy getting all new pals, believing he's replaced by someone else. It eats his heart away. As for the brown-haired boy, it's clearly stated that he always follows his heart. In the end, he doesn't go back with the girl; he goes back to his friend."

"Ha ha," Roxas mocked laughter. "That sounds so…"

"Yeah, I don't know why they put it in children's category. But on second thought, calling it a 'deep friendship' would somehow do." Kairi nodded to herself.

"A really deep, complicated one that is," the elder twin agreed.

The two looked at each other for a while before they silently noticed that something was missing.

Sora.

When they whirled back (because Sora wasn't walking with them anymore), they saw Sora a few steps away behind them. He stood frozen to the spot.

"Sora?" Kairi called. "What's wrong?"

"That…" Sora drawled, his one hand slowly rose up and pointed a finger to where Kairi's book was. "….sounds awfully like my dream."

"You mean…the dream that you said you've been having it often since a year ago?" Roxas sauntered back to his brother.

Sora nodded.

"What a coincidence." Roxas seemed not to be interested anymore.

"It can't be coincidence! Why would it be exactly the same?" Sora's voice came out more serious than he intended.

Kairi looked at her book, already knowing the answer Sora was searching for. She held up the cover of the book and declared, "There's no writer's name here."

Sora looked utterly disappointed.

"I've asked the book sellers around the town, and none of them had heard about it. I think there may only be a limited amount of copies," Kairi guessed.

Sora brought his hand to his chin, contemplating. He said, "Riku seemed to know lots about this. Maybe we can ask him."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, he seems to know about this book. But it's not like I'm going to ask that guy!"

"Well, but I'm going to anyway." Sora grinned.

"Which is when?"

"Today-oops." Sora's hands flew from the back of his head to his mouth, cursed his straightforwardness. Blue eyes searched the other ones.

The elder twin narrowed his eyes.

"But Tidus is coming too. He's going to practice Blitzball there at the play island!" Sora tried to convince. "Aww, don't be such a mother hen, Roxas!"

"A mother hen? I'm not! Fine, you go, as long as you're back before six, and not alone." Roxas muttered.

Sora's grin became wider, he knew that would work.

"I'll ring to check on you," Kairi added.

The brunet boy looked between the two. "Hey! Since when did I get myself a second pair of parents!"


	5. Ch 4 the Promise in the Secret Place

**Saving 4 the Promise in the Secret Place**

"Sora! You're okay!"

Sora walked into the school building, with his brother close to his side. The older twin's mood was somewhat foul, causing Sora to supply a soft, nervous laugh to Kairi as a reply.

"Of course, I'm okay. Why would I not be? You did give me a call yesterday." The brunet tried sidetracking; he didn't want to get into details.

"Sora, you don't look so good. You look worn out," Kairi said, voice thick with concern.

"Roxas yelled at me a lot yesterday. I wasn't able to sleep much." That said, Roxas threw him a glare.

Of course, Sora had given a ring to his mother about getting home late. But Kairi had called in and Roxas was the one who picked up that call. Roxas asked, and the girl had to answer. He was, initiatively a little angry about Sora coming home late, but what made him angrier was whom Sora had gone with.

A little brotherly fight had occurred as Sora claimed he was not a kid anymore; Roxas declared that there was _something _out there. When Sora talked back and asked Roxas to clarify, Roxas said no more.

Roxas's reactions to all of these had yet to be answered, and their quarrel ended that way.

With Kairi's support here and now, Roxas was able to squeeze some information out of Sora, about where he had been with Riku, and about Riku himself. Fortunately, it went well better than Sora had anticipated. Just because Sora failed to tell Roxas one thing.

Moreover, Sora had even plead which was rare. Everyone knew Sora used the method with his brother only. And while Roxas was immune to anyone else's plea, he was vulnerable to Sora's.

Roxas sighed, rolling his eyes in exasperation. _'Well, at least I've convinced him into giving up if anything goes wrong. Heck, would Sora ever give up anyway?' _He thought sourly. If he couldn't dissuade Sora to stop seeing Riku now, the least he could do was to trust in Sora's trust in Riku. _'Not that I can't convince him, but I'm the one being convinced.'_

As for Kairi, she knew she didn't own her friend's life. She could only warn him, nothing more than that.

After the commotion, Sora had to throw in the closing line.

"Honestly, Roxas. You're only seconds older than me, stop acting like you're so old,"

"I'm not acting old, but you act like five years old."

Sora let out an angry huff which made Roxas and Kairi laugh, lightening the atmosphere a bit.

Besides from the fact that Roxas tried to trust Sora's instinct, he had only let the subject slide when Sora hadn't mentioned about Riku being a Nobody.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora was able to meet Riku when Roxas considered Riku a common vampire. Thus far, Sora still didn't understand the difference, but if telling Roxas that Riku was just a vampire, no 'Nobody' no nothing, he could still keep in contact with Riku, Sora would do so.

Between the cliffs that led to the tree house and the waterfall was a thicket that crawled onto each other in a huge circle, covering the entrance to the cave that Sora had always frequented some time ago. A sense of déjà vu washed over him as he looked into it. He forced the stubborn branches aside for a space enough to squeeze himself in.

After trudging a long, dimmed tunnel, Sora stepped into the wide space of the cave. Boulders, mushrooms and whatnot were bounded about. What stood out the most was the door. The colorful door that was contrasted to other dimmed surrounding always drew Sora's attention. He found himself in front of the door, hands reaching out.

"Don't open it, Sora" a voice interrupted. "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

When Sora swiveled his head back, he saw Riku stepping out of the shadow. Apparently he was hiding earlier and the brunet understood perfectly: being vampire and all.

"Oh yeah? It's not like it's going to open. I've tried it for years. Is this the door to the outside world or something?" Sora asked.

Riku came to his side. He looked at Sora, and to the door. "You know this place?"

"Yeah, I found it when I was seven or something. I did come here occasionally. It's been a while…"

Out of nowhere, something throbbed in their heads. While Sora managed to hold up, Riku swayed and clutched his head with one hand.

"Riku, you all right?" Frowning, Sora grabbed the other's arm lightly.

Riku removed his hand; his oceanic eyes cast over the surrounding and back to Sora. "There's something about this place and you together."

"So you feel it too, huh? It's kind of funny. I know this place, but it's starting to feel _real _familiar...especially now that you're here too," Sora proclaimed and turned thoughtful.

"'_Remembering one thing leads to remembering another, and then another...Your memories are connected, like links in a chain_.' That's what a friend had told me. When Sora's eyebrows furrowed, Riku frowned faintly. "It's nothing. Let's go out, it might do you good."

They got out of the cave and Sora stretched first, welcoming the ray of sunlight. On the other hand, Riku kept himself away in the shadow of the trees. But when Sora turned back at him, he followed suit.

Sora's eyes found the wooden swords beside the shack. He glanced at Riku hopefully which, the other had learned that kind of look.

"How about a quick round?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sora collapsed back first to the yellow sand, the wooden sword still in his hand. His face flushed, and chest puffing constantly with each breath he took. Beside him, Riku seated himself, hand still holding the hilt of the wooden sword, swinging it absentmindedly.

"Tired?" Riku asked airily.

"That's 0 against 10," Sora announced, a bit bitter.

"What did you expect? I've been wielding real swords for years and years." Riku heard a disgruntled noise from Sora, he proclaimed. "Maybe you could beat me the 100th time we spar."

"That's too much!" Sora shot up so sudden that it granted him more pain across his body, he went limp and fell back. "I…will beat you someday."

"Good to hear that, I'll be waiting." Riku accepted with a smirk.

The brunet turned to the side, looking up at the sitting boy. Riku seemed perfectly fine, not even a hint of tiredness was shown. They had fallen in a serious spar for minutes earlier. Sora, now, was much more aware that his spar with Riku grew more serious every time, and the hunger to beat Riku at least once was getting stronger.

He knew that the other didn't even use his vampire's abilities or whatnot. Sometimes he even felt that Riku was holding back, which frustrated him.

But Sora did always have his fun whenever sparring with Riku. It was apparent in the other's countenance that he felt the same. Sometimes Sora wondered why Riku would undergo the equivalent enjoyment in this, when he couldn't match to Riku's level.

On the other hand, Riku never voiced out the thoughts that occurs to him lately.

He'd encountered people all over the many worlds. Sora was one of a very few who never gave up once. Every time he went down, he would bounce back up again. Riku found it entertaining.

"You never give up, do you?" He asked, knowing the answer.

He only met silence, when he glanced down, his lips quirked up in amusement.

The smaller boy was already fast asleep.

Riku's gaze traveled back to the ocean, the evening light created an orange glow which stung his eyes slightly. He too felt the urge to shut his eyes and just lay there.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

X

_Those same chains are what anchor us all together**.**_

X

Riku came almost every other day with the reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. He found himself in the situation where he couldn't just depart like he always did before. Something was drawing him to the boy.

They grew close just by talking or lazing around the island. Most of their times together was spent sparring where Riku taught Sora how to use a sword. The funniest and hardest activity was helping Sora with his homework. The boy wasn't the brightest kid when it came to school lessons.

One late afternoon, Sora had excitedly showed up in the Tree House where Riku took accommodation, most of the time. He'd remained in the shadows when anyone stepped into the area, revealing himself only when it was Sora. Sometimes the boy also knew which shadow Riku was situated in. Sora took him by the arm and dragged him out of the shadow.

The taller one could only trail the smaller one's steps as he was pulled along.

"What is it, Sora?"

"Wait till you see!" The boy said cheerfully. "I found this place when I was playing with my friends, but they don't know about it! I'm going to show you first!"

They made it down from the tree house, to the pathway alongside of the waterfall and in front of the rounded-shape thicket. They felt the wind blows through the gap of each branches.

Riku arched his eyebrows. It was only a place where he had come out of, the cave where the door to other worlds was located.

"There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!" He bent closer to the thicket. "Listen! There! Can you hear it growling?" The boy tugged the taller man.

Riku knew better, but a little play along wouldn't hurt. He knelt to level with the boy. "All right. Suppose there really is a monster... Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"

"No problem. Let's do it!" The boy persuaded boldly.

Impressed; Riku removed the thick bush easily and led Sora in, with him in pursuit. When they reached the insides, Sora was busying looking around anxiously, searching for something. He was caught off guard when Riku…"Boo!"

"Riku!"

Riku let out hearty chuckles. He pointed to the small holes around the cave that lies horizontally along the pathway that they came in. "See that? It was just the wind making that noise."

"Aw, man. I wish it was a monster!" Sora complained.

Oceanic eyes contained nothing but sheer amusement. All the time he'd been with the boy, Sora didn't talk of things beyond what he saw out of childish imagination. He talked as if he would really find them, discovering them someway and somehow.

The door to other realms lied beyond them a few feet away, hidden in the dark. Riku decided he should take Sora away before he spotted it.

"Hold on! What's that over there?" The boy pointed to the door.

Too late.

When Sora darted, attempting to get to the door, Riku grabbed him by the back of his shirt, almost violently but effectively. Sora was halted to the spot; his feet lifted from the ground by inches with Riku's capture and he, trying to move further. Riku pulled on Sora's shirt, lifting the boy off the ground, so Sora was left hanging in his shirt. Riku made the boy face him. "Don't, Sora. You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

The boy looked back at him, eyes wide with curiosity. "Oh yeah? Is that a door from other worlds or something? So you came through that door?"

Riku went quiet.

Sora's blue eyes grew wider. "You came through that door!"

Riku shook his head; he dropped Sora to the ground gently. As expected, Sora swiveled his head back again to the door and Riku narrowed his eyes.

"Sora. Don't. Open. It." He articulated.

The boy looked up at him with confused stare. "Why not?"

Riku's face grew angry and the boy flinched.

"I'll just peek…a little, it'll be fine. I won't hurt myself, I won't cause trouble," the boy nudged.

The vampire's head fell into his gloved hand and glanced at the door through his fingers. It would take the world to convince Sora anyway. The door was heavy, maybe he could chance on that?

"Fine, you try-"

The boy bounced happily and was about to rush to the door.

"But slowly, okay? You don't know what's in there," He said as he positioned himself on the boy's side, one hand holding the boy close to him.

They advanced to the door.

Nothing happened.

The door was, in fact, too heavy for the small boy. Riku let go of the boy's hand and folded his arms over his chest, smiling with hidden relief. "It won't open."

Sora puffed out, wheezing. "Geez, is that really all that's in here?"

Riku shrugged. "What do you expect in a boring place like this?"

The boy seemed sorely disappointed, Riku noted. Sora reminded him so much of himself back then, with that undying curiosity.

Riku felt contented with Sora. He'd traveled many worlds and witnessed many who wanted to get away from their lives and be somewhere else, particularly because their lives _sucked_. They requested or in some cases, begged him to take them away. Riku never did, he didn't have to go over any considering of having anyone tagging along, because he never wanted anyone.

But Sora was different. The boy had a loving family although he occasionally talked about the loneliness with the absence of his twin. Still, he had many friends around his age, being open to new people and building easy friendship. The boy was evidently happy with his life and what he had.

Riku even wondered why Sora still sticks around with him when he was dull and gloomy. He refused to come out and meet with anyone, yet Sora still came to him, alone. That was what made him so pleased about it.

So Riku was surprised with himself when he came up with a sudden thought and let it slipped off of his tongue without considering it at all.

"Hey, Sora." The taller one knelt down, leveling himself with the smaller boy.

"Hmm?"

"When you grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!" Riku said, fisting a little to emphasize. It had been a while for him to be passionate about something.

Blue eyes lit up in eagerness and Sora nodded several times. "You mean, to the other worlds? Sure! We'll go together! When will that be? Today? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow!"

The vampire chuckled. "No, you're too young." Then he put his hand under his chin, contemplating. "Let's see, I was sixteen when I went on my journeys. You would have to wait until then."

"Wah! That's so long!" The boy whined.

"It's not kid stuff out there, like I said. It won't be long, it will eventually come. We'll meet on this island and go. Sounds good enough?" Riku left no room for argument.

"Fine." Thinking he couldn't ask for more, Sora complied. He looked up. "Promise?"

"Promise." Riku smiled, then he realized that there was still one more important thing. "And Sora."

"Hmm?"

"Don't tell anyone about this place," Riku said. He couldn't let anyone come near this place; he wouldn't want to imagine the consequence of beings of the light stepping through the door to other realms.

Sora blinked a few times. "Yeah, sure, I can do that if you want. When I found this place I didn't think of telling anyone but you anyway. But why?"

"It's a-" Riku thought fast, "…secret"

"Secret?"

The vampire nodded and bent in a little to whisper, although there was no one there to hear them. _But…didn't everyone like secrets? Especially the shared ones._ "Yeah, this is our secret place, just between the two of us."

The undying excitement bored in Sora's eyes as he happily nodded. "Something like a secret base? Our secret base?"

Riku nodded, smiling.

Then everything faded.

X

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Oceanic green eyes fluttered open, blinking a few times at the sky that was painted with a hue of purple, implying that night was approaching.

'…_a dream? It's getting clearer…'_

He pushed himself up and felt the one beside him stir, too. It took only a moment to remove his hand from Sora. It should have been a coincidence that they fell asleep hand in hand. He turned to the boy, giving him the strangest look, and received the mirrored expression in return. Riku broken the eye contact first, and Sora as well turned to look where Riku's gaze fell, the ocean.

"…What a dream…" Sora trailed off sleepily as he rubbed the back of his head, his hair unruly even more from sleep.

"What?" Riku realized.

Sora's eyes traveled back to Riku, then his gazed dropped to the yellow sand. "I've been having these weird thoughts lately…like is any of this…for real…or not?"

"Thoughts? I thought you said dreams." Riku asked, wanting the explanation.

"Yeah…er, well. I don't know. I thought it was just my imagination. But…" Sora's hand remained at the back of his head, feeling awkward. "You'll think I'm crazy."

"Don't worry, I already thought that, sometimes. So speak up." Riku pressed.

The smaller boy threw him a glare momentarily but followed Riku's request.

"Well, spending time with you makes me feel this kind of feelings." He paused for a while. "Feelings like…we'd been here together, before we met on that day."

Riku went quiet. Sure, he knew there was something about this place, or to be certain, about this boy. Why did he come to Destiny Island of all places? If he was to burn himself under the sun, why not anywhere? Why here? He'd felt it from the beginning that something had drawn him here. Or could it possibly be…someone?

"These continuous dreams make me feel like I have this sense of familiarity about you." Sora's eyes searched Riku and he asked, "Have we even met before?"

And Riku searched for the answer in his head. It turned out that the pain presented itself instead of answers. His hands immediately clutched at his head while his lips let out a pained moan.

"Riku!" The boy grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I…I can't remember. But…" Riku's voice shook.

"If you can't, then don't force it!" Sora raised his voice. "Just forget it okay?"

Trying to do as he was told, Riku's headache died down. He let his hands go and his eyes lingered at the boy's concerning feature. Riku knew one thing now.

There was the possibility that something had sealed his memory away. After all, he'd only remembered his life as a Nobody-vampire when he was sixteen. Before that, he had no recollection of what so ever.

He couldn't remember where Sora fit into any period of his life. Before Sora came into the picture, there was always the void inside his heart. He didn't give a thought about it then, but he wished he'd know it now.

Something was missing.

"Have we met before?"

"I just asked you that. I see you have no answer to my question and neither do I to you." Sora's expression turned from worry to confusion.

"What did you dream about just now?"

"I can barely recall it now," the brunet drawled as he curled into a ball. He buried his head in his arms that folded around his knees. "Gah! Why must I forget this one while I remember other ones so clear!"

"Mine is…unfortunately I can't recall it as well. Strange, I remember every single thing that happened to me since I started this life." He cast his glance to Sora, who had questions all over his face, making Riku cracked a smile. "If you have questions, ask away. I told you that I'll answer, hadn't I? Maybe we could remember something, if there is anything at all, that is."

"Hmm," Sora's tone turned a little worry. "I'd like to hear your history in brief if that's okay. Maybe I could recall something."

"That's a tough one. Like I said, I only remembered things from when I was sixteen, waking up in Hollow Bastion. I don't know where I originated, but I didn't care. Then I started my journeys from world to world until I couldn't find anything new." Here Riku paused, looking unsure to go on, but Sora nudged him. "So I settled in the Realm of Darkness."

"Realm of Darkness?" Sora interjected.

"Yes. Realm of Darkness is where all the creatures of pure darkness originated from. Any creatures you can imagine. All things there are tied to darkness...to be completely eclipsed. Anyway, I grew tired and bored of everything at Realm of Darkness too. So I went to Realm of Nothingness, the only place where all things are pilfered existence. By that, I wouldn't have to feel anything anymore, like I don't exist.

It was okay for ten years; then again, I got tired of the place. Although my existence was banished, I still felt myself…there, only hollow and empty. So I figured it would be better just to end it all…here."

Riku was aware that Sora must have felt the emptiness in his answer. Riku's reason of suicidal act relied solely on the boredom of life, was that even believable to himself? If Sora had a doubt, he hadn't shown it.

"Well?" Riku ventured.

"So you don't remember coming here?" Sora pointed.

Riku shook his head, and smiled crookedly. "I remember everything else, except here. About the possibility of us meeting before, I really don't know. I've been in the Realm of Nothingness for ten years. My memories are vague there, since I didn't really exist."

"Let's not care about it," Sora declared with a smile. "All I care now is you, here, me. Even if we never met before, who cares? We can start from here."

Regarding Sora, Riku commented, "Optimistic."

Sora responded with a toothy grin. "It's good for your health!"

They lazed around for quite a while. When the sun began to slip down the horizon, Sora decided he should take his leave, to prevent a fight with his brother.

Along the path to the dock, Riku felt unsure. Up until now, he didn't know what position he stood for Sora. They had just met, and although they shared the same nostalgic feelings, it was still unclear. There could be anything…or nothing at all.

When Sora got into the rocking small boat, Riku suddenly asked, "Sora. Can I come visit you sometimes? Even when I…don't have any reasons."

Sora laughed, a lot, and a little too long.

Weird sensations burned Riku's face. What was it? Embarrassment? He used to be sure he didn't have that kind of emotion. Smoothing his face into a frown, he snapped, "What's so funny?"

The other boy still had one hand clutched at his stomach and another one pointing at Riku. "God, Riku. Do you still have to ask? Like I'm gonna say, no? Come on, man! I didn't come here today to discuss politics with you."

'_Friends?' _

Riku gave the last smile to the boy who rowed away from the island. When the boat was out of sight, his smile turned sour. _'Isn't being friends means no secrets? Especially the important ones.' _He whispered into thin air, "Would you still consider me as a friend if I told you what I'd done in the past?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

They paid each other visits from day to day until Roxas and Sora's friends had a clear idea where Sora had disappeared to. Not that it was obvious anyway; Sora had always gone to the island alone, if not with his friends. And Riku was just there, Sora had made it like he didn't always go to the island for Riku on purpose. Anyways, Roxas was beginning to sit well with it, seeing his brother coming back home, happy, and no harm done.

Until one day, Sora reached the main island's beach after his visit to Riku, he heard a voice.

"Excuse me, are you with the Nobody-vampire?"

Sora turned, but saw nothing at first. Then he lowered his gaze, and found three small…something, hovering in the air.

"Fairies?" He blurted in surprise.

"Not quite," one of them said. She was a girl who looked older than the other two. She had crimson eyes and raven-hair, her features clad in black of gothic fashion, accompanied with black little wings.

"Hey there, I'm Sora," Sora greeted them amiably. As he gaped at them, the one in the center, a brunette cladded in blue dress, whose eyes were with the color of green on the left and blue on the right, were eyeing him expectantly. Only then did Sora realize she was the one with a question and he hadn't yet answered it. "Oh, um, Nobody-vampire? You mean Riku?"

"Rikku? That's me." The blond girl with green eyes, in orange outfit and with long scarf, looked up attentively. "By the way, that's-" Her line was cut short when the black fairy clamped her mouth shut. Sora assumed the blond attempted to make some introductions for her companions, but they disagreed.

" Rikku, not Riku, is it?" the brunet spoke up.

Sora nodded and added, "Riku is my friend…Err, you knew him being a Nobody-vampire?"

"Friend of yours? That explains why you smell like one." The fairy in black eyed him precariously.

The brunette raised her hand in front of her companion and said to Sora, "Where is this Riku?"

Reading their gestures, Sora predicted that whatever they want Riku for, it wasn't going to be pretty. "Why are you looking for him?"

"We're Nobody-vampire hunters."

One simple reason that explained it all.

"You're hunting him! In that case, I can't—I won't tell you. Why are you hunting him anyway? He doesn't hurt anyone," Sora declared. He doubted if such small fairies would be able to hunt vampires at all. Then again, Riku looked slow and apathetic enough to fall flat at any moment when in fact, he was unearthly fast and deft. Judging anything by their outer shells wasn't something Sora had grown accustomed to.

The three exchanged glances. Then the brunette flew closer to the boy, saying, "Sora, right? Sure he _doesn't_, but that doesn't mean he _didn't _and he _wouldn't._ You knew he's a Nobody-vampires."

"Yeah, a Nobody-vampire, so what?" Sora spread his hands to the side. "He doesn't need blood, he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Is that all you know about Nobody-vampire?" the black one asked in icy tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Sora felt taken aback. "Er, yeah. Why?"

"He can't stay here," the brunette stated, her eyes grew serious. "He doesn't belong here." She leveled her eyes to Sora and requested, "Please tell us, this is for your own good, and for this world as well."

The lack of proper answer was nagging Sora. He forced a dry laugh. "Hey, you're not answering my question. Is there anything I don't know about Nobody-vampire? And what do you mean by he can't stay here?"

"We meant what we said," the black fairy pressed. "Just tell us where he is, we'll set things right."

Sora didn't answer, he wouldn't.

"He's on the island, isn't he?" Yuna said as she pointed to the island where Sora just rowed from. "We can feel the darkness emanating from there."

Sora was caught off guard. He was right about these three hunters' skills despite their outer appearances.

The air suddenly tensed.

The blond fairy quickly raised a hand up. "Don't worry! We'll just see him and talk with him!" Then she turned to her companions. "You know not all Nobody-vampires are bad! Some of them become friends with human for real!"

Sora regarded Rikku, feeling she was the only one on his side. And her sympathy seemed to be working on her two companions as the brunette nodded to her and addressed to Sora, "Really sorry about this. I'm Yuna, and that's Paine." She pointed to the black fairy which seemed disappointed at her name being given. "You already know Rikku."

The boy waved his hands. "You don't have to apologize!" Then he smiled, "Nice to meet you then." His smile faded into apologetic one. "I was too ahead of myself too. It's just that I'm afraid for him, that's all." _'Yeah, having Roxas and Kairi constantly accused Riku had him adopted a defensive streak for Riku.'_ "But I really don't know anything about him…that much."

"I see." Yuna nodded. "Still, we're not supposed to let Nobody-vampires be anywhere else except where they rightfully belong."

"So we're gonna go to him whether you like it or not," Paine cut in.

"No, wait!" Sora vocalized. Once the hunters all turned to him, he bit his lip. He couldn't stop them anyways, and for what it was worth, he felt that these fairies did really come in peace. "Don't go to him. I think I'll better to bring him to you." At least, Sora could ask Riku first and see if he was okay with that.

Yuna began, "That will not do, this Riku is dangerous. He could pose a threat-"

"He won't," Sora said with a firm voice and steadied eyes. "Riku won't hurt me, I'm his friend. Trust me; I'll bring him to you. You girls just wait here."

"You sure you really trust him?" Yuna asked.

"With all my heart." The boy poked a thumb at his chest, looking proud.

"So wait we shall." Yuna clasped her hands together. "Somehow I feel that we can trust you too."

"Thanks. Just wait around…there." Sora pointed to one of the shady area of the palm trees. "Some people would find fairies too much of an interest. Don't know what they might do. You girls should be careful."

"Oh, don't worry about us. We don't break as easily as we look," Yuna noted.

The boy nodded and watched the three made their ways to the nearby hidden area. Then he jumped in the boat once again. He watched the sky darkened by minutes and started rowing. "Roxas's going to kill me for sure."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Along the way, I almost forgot that I'd wanted to put YRP into this. First off, I wanted to have them as main characters, but I couldn't really think of the major plot for them. It happened that the plot about Roxas and Axel popped into my head instead, so I had to push YRP aside.

About Riku and Sora meeting earlier and made a promise, I figured that would help strengthen something. Well, original KH always used the point of them being friends since they were young. On my second thought, I was weighting if I should make them best friend when they were both young (it's uncommon to have best friends in distance age, right?) But that would collapse my timeline. And I don't think I could write something about reincarnation. So here it was…


	6. 5 Truth about Nobody & Roxas' case

**Chapter 5 Truth of Nobody-Vampire and Roxas's case**

Sora wasn't really afraid of the dark, at least not as much in comparison with any others. Though, he didn't recall that someone he trusted, was from the darkness itself.

He was aware that people around him labeled him as one of those happy-go lucky boys. He liked to keep it that way. Therefore he never told anyone that he had felt a hole form inside his heart at some point in his childhood. As if he had forgotten something important, but figuring that he couldn't do anything about it, he learned not to let it be a bother.

But when he met Riku, something was beginning to resurface. Whatever it was, it filled that void and the emptiness he always had. He wanted to find out what exactly was it, and would hate to see Riku off somewhere else before he could get the answer.

As he rowed the boat, he glanced back at the main island worriedly. _Was he doing the right thing? Would Riku be angry at him? Would the three fairies…no…the Vampire Hunters, force Riku back to where they said he belonged?_

When he neared the island, his mind was back to a current situation. "The hidden cave, isn't it?"

'_It's our secret place! Somewhere only we know, Sora.'_

Sora's eyes widened and he looked around widely, searching for the source of the voice. When he found none, he brought his hand up to his head. "Was that in my head? No way, I've never heard voices in my head before. What's wrong with me?" Trying to get rid of the thought, he returned to his quest for the Nobody-Vampire.

He came to a halt at the cave entrance, looking into the darkness behind the thicket of plants. With the sight he was taking in, words formed on his lips. "Se…secret…place…our secret place? Ours? Mine…and…who else's…?"

"Sora?"

Said boy turned to his left, looking up a bit. At the wooden bridge where it led to the tree house, stood Riku in the dark. He eyed down at the boy in surprised. "I thought you went home. Why are you still here?" He asked. With one swift motion, he slipped off the bridge and landed down next to Sora.

"Well, I…uh…" The boy found himself unable to give him an explanation.

"Hmm? And who were you talking to just now?" Riku leaned in closer, curious.

The brunet took one nervous step backward and waved it off. "No one! I was just talking to myself. I don't even know what I'm talking about!" He paused, and realized. That was right; he _didn't_ know what he was talking about.

Upon seeing Sora's wild features turn droopy, Riku retreated slightly, giving the boy some space. "So? I thought your brother was pretty strict on the time you should be home. Before sunset, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Right." Sora looked away. "Truth is I had to come back. There're these three people, uh…no, they're fairies…well, to be exact, they called themselves the Vampire…." He paused for a long while, swallowing the lump in his throat until Riku tilted his head inquisitively. "…Hunters," he finished. "They told me about having to find you and settle things right; about how you shouldn't be here or it could pose a threat to the human race. They knew you were here on this island, but I volunteered to come get you instead of them coming here."

There was a long moment in which the crashing of the ocean waves onto rocks was the only sound audible.

Sora tentatively glanced back at Riku, half afraid, half curious to see the Nobody-Vampire's response. But all he got was a blank expression.

"Okay? So where are they?"

Sora blinked. "You're not angry?"

"Why should I be? They're right. I shouldn't be here," Riku said, void of sentiment.

The brunet looked at him uncertainly and his eyes cast to the ground. "Riku. Even if that's the case, it doesn't mean that you have to go away, right?"

Riku glanced over to the brunet, who was drowned in sullen features, and he let out a laugh.

Sora's head snapped up immediately at the laughter ringing in his ears, his sullen expression turned into one of confusion. Riku's hand reached to mess with Sora's hair. "You're worried about me leaving?"

Sora turned red, but he didn't know why he was feeling embarrassed. Somehow, Riku's lught made Sora feel a little lighter. The laugh lasted for a few brief seconds and Riku turned sideways. When Sora stole a glance to Riku's expression, it was every emotion but happiness. "Well…about that…now that you brought it up, I've just realized…"

The tone Riku used dispelled Sora's earlier relief. "Realized? Realized what?"

Shaking his head dismissively, Riku concluded, "You can take me to them and we'll settle this; then you can go home and let your brother scold you already."

The brunet dumbly nodded and hoped that Riku would have avoided that latter subject just because it wasn't important.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was dark when they finally reached the main Island. Under the shadowy trees located near the dock, Sora led Riku to a certain palm tree where the three Hunters awaited them.

As three pairs of the Hunters' eyes fell onto the approaching figures, they dropped into a defensive stance. Riku paused in his strides, his brows arched.

"Vampire Hunters? This small?" The silver-haired vampire trailed off lazily. The three Hunters ignored his comment.

"So you're Riku?" Yuna said, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Sora saw Yuna pull out a pair of her weapons. He would have found it hilarious hadn't the situation been edgy. Yuna's guns were so small he couldn't help but think they were just toys. But then again, he was right about their skills, he couldn't think of them as lightly as they looked. Sora suddenly was obliged to step in between them and Riku, with one hand outstretched.

"No fighting here!" Sora declared.

"So you want it somewhere else?" Paine countered.

"Sora! Step away!" Yuna demanded.

"Not anywhere! And no! I'm not stepping away!" Sora announced, already frustrated. "Didn't you girls say you were going to talk to him and settle things! Riku didn't even do anything!"

"Scratch what you told him earlier, Yuna. I think this stubborn one needs the truth." Paine stated to her comrade in flat tone.

The boy fidgeted a little at the accusation, but he was more interested in: "The truth?" He asked.

Yuna went silent for a while after looking at Riku, and nodded to Paine. "All right, Sora. You already know that he's a Nobody-Vampire. What else do you know?" She interrogated.

Sora nodded without glancing at Riku for any approval. He was going to tell them the truth, Riku's approval wasn't needed. He crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head up slightly. "Let's see. The Nobody-Vampires are different from normal vampires in the way that they don't need blood to sustain their beings. So they don't hurt anyone for blood. They are able to stand under the sun, but not morning rays." He tilted his head downward and uncrossed his arms, nodding to himself. "I think that's it?"

"That was it? Figures." Paine bit out.

"What you know are only half the facts. Let me supply you some background." Yuna eyed Riku cautiously. Riku regarded them, aware of the truth they were about to speak, but showed no attempt to stop them. Yuna continued. "Nobody-Vampires aren't the vampires that have lived in the human world for thousands of years. They come from another realm: the Realm of Darkness. They are born out of pure Darkness, with the abilities to control the darkness in which they live as well. There are only a pint amount of them, wishing to not be known by anyone that is not of their own kind. Their leader came up with one simple, universal rule: 'One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds'. Just to make it figurative, the leader also named them 'Nobodies'. That way, they don't exist in the others' eyes."

"Okay? But I don't see any jeopardy in it. So Riku is a Nobody, so what?" Sora asked plainly. "Like I said, he hurts no one. Right Riku?"

Riku hesitated. When Sora frowned at him, he looked away.

"Yuna, tell him the whole story, I think this boy _really _needs it." Paine's head dropped into her hand.

"What more do I need to know?" Sora extended his hand, looking interested.

"Normal vampires are dangerous because they drain humans and kill them, but the danger of Nobody-Vampires work the other way." Yuna stated and she caught a glimpse of change in Riku's expression. Although there was still no sign that he would stop them, there certainly was a worried glance that was thrown in Sora's direction. The Hunter continued anyway. "Nobody-Vampires carry large amounts of darkness with them. Whether they have good or bad intentions, they can't always control it.

In most cases, the darkness gets out of hand and swallows everything up.

Upon seeing Sora tilt his head to the side, Rikku helped with the explanation on that bit. "It's pretty much like the normal darkness at night in this world. It's just the shapeless black color. But upon a will by any Nobody-Vampires _or _the frequent use of dark power, that darkness can be shaped into something dangerous, like a monster or what not." Rikku didn't like the look on Sora's face when she explained that; she decided to cheer him up, if only a little. "As of yet, Riku's darkness hasn't take shape."

"But that could all change. One slip up and this world is in trouble." Pained attached that at the end. So much for Rikku's attempt to make Sora feels better.

"Still we cannot risk any Nobody-Vampires staying anywhere except at the Realm of Darkness, where they rightfully belong. Only there a Nobody-Vampire's darkness won't take any affect in harming anyone." Yuna clarified, siding with both parties, although Paine gave her a warning look as if she was already inclined to the other side.

On the surface, Sora looked lost and was quiet until everyone thought that he couldn't understand what they were saying. Apparently, his further question told them otherwise. "So what happens if the darkness swallows everything up?"

"The world will disappear, and so is everyone on it. You probably don't know what it's like. There is a record of the worlds that disappeared due to the Nobody-Vampires' darkness in the past. You see just how some people would cross the border without caring what would happen to the other worlds." Paine said, rolling her eyes at Riku.

Riku didn't hold up her gaze. He turned and met Sora's eyes. There was no hint of doubt in the boy's blue eyes, but only his intense stare alone made Riku cringe inside. Maybe agreeing to talk with these Hunters was a wrong decision.

"The leader of Nobody-Vampires' race is a good person or so we've heard. But there are still those who are curious, wanting out; wanting to explore. The leader can't control all of them since they're all wild. That's why we have to look over that problem." Yuna added.

"So you see how they are more disastrous than normal vampires who kill one or two or dozens of people grotesquely at night?" Pained concluded.

The brunet's carefree features dropped instantly. His eyes turned to Riku and they all knew the silent question he was asking.

Riku uncrossed his arms and closed his eyes, seemingly uncaring and disinterested, although there was a hint of dismay. "It's true. But I have no will to shape my darkness in anyway, nor the intention to use my dark power."

"Then what is your purpose here?" Yuna started, shifting the guns in her hands slightly. If Sora wasn't in the way she would have angled them directly at the vampire already.

Riku put his hand on Sora's shoulder reassuringly. When the brunet had stepped away, he shrugged to the girls. "To die."

The three hunters' expression jumped.

"Riku." Sora inched closer to Riku, a worried expression on his face. Riku only brushed him off.

"Look, I'm telling you the truth. I came here to die," he pressed the last word. "But Sora saved me from it, and I was convinced to stay, so I stayed. Does that answer your question?"

Rikku's fighting stance dropped entirely while Yuna and Pained still have their firm grips on their weapons. "From what we've heard from Sora, I assume you haven't hurt anyone here intentionally?" Yuna interrogated.

"Not a single soul." Riku answered.

"Can't rely on his words alone." Paine shot up.

Riku's head tilted lazily to the side, oceanic eyes slid half closed in annoyance.

Upon seeing the tension between all of them, Rikku pointed out, "Hey, but at least Riku hadn't used his dark power. Maybe he could be the first one to learn-"

Paine sent a disapproving glance at her companion as she reached out and clasped Rikku's mouth. "Don't give them any false hope. You remember what happened to the last one we told that to, don't you?"

Rikku struggled at first but gave in at Paine's last word.

"Riku," Yuna started once more. "Are you aware of the possibility that you could lose your control of darkness and hurt Sora? Every Nobody-Vampire claims they can control the darkness, but they can't."

For the first time since their meeting, Riku faltered, which was obvious to the other three this time. He eyed at Sora, unnerved.

Rikku knew now she wasn't the only one that bothered to see something in Riku's eyes when they were on Sora; Yuna knew it too.

Tension lasted for a minute before Sora spoke up, "That's all right." He crossed his arms over his chest, smiling confidently. "If that time comes around, I'll make Riku regain his senses. So everything should turn out all right." His confident smile surprised Riku.

"Easier said than done," Paine stated the fact. "No human could stand a vampires' strength, let alone a Nobody-Vampire's."

Rikku looked around for a while before breaking out of Paine's arms, and puffed out, "Oh, foofie, this is getting nowhere. I say we hang around for a while; we should be able to stop it from happening if it's only starting. If not, then we can fight or whatever."

Sora nodded and tried to reason. "Right. I'm sure Riku won't harm anyone."

Yuna seemed to be lost in thought for the decision.

"Come on, Yunie, trust your instinct for once. You know Riku isn't really that bad; he seems to have control over his darkness." Rikku pleaded.

"But look at what happened with the last one we trusted based on your instinct." Paine reminded.

"Aww! That redhead was unstable when he lost his mind over a boy! But nothing bad happened, right? He left just in time. Riku's more stable compared to that pyro." The blonde fended off and turned to her cousin.

'_Redheaded pyro?'_ Riku mused at the familiarity of it, but his thought was cut short when Yuna clasped her hand together, causing a sound.

The brunette nodded finally. "Okay, we'll trust you for once."

Pained sighed and commented, "Two emotional girls."

Sora smiled brightly at them and up at Riku who only closed his eyes, tiring.

"All right! So that's settled for today!" Rikku cheered up, fisting one hand up in the air

Sora bent down a little at the smaller blonde. "Thanks."

As soon as things were solved for the day, Sora realized, "Oh no! What time is it!"

Riku looked up at the moon for a while and calmly equated. "Seven-thirty-six."

"Ah! I have to get home fast; Roxas's going to strangle me for sure!" Sora's hands dug into his head. He was busying himself frantically that he didn't notice the three fairies suddenly flew out of his sight, and Riku looking behind his back.

"Looks like you even don't have to get home to get strangled by your brother." Riku suddenly said.

"Huh?" The brunet looked questioningly at him before he heard a loud, fierce, familiar voice from behind him.

"SOORAAA!" Came a mad growl that made Sora recoiled in automatic.

The nervous brunet slowly turned at the direction of the voice. As expected, he saw his twin brother standing there, clearly boiling his rage off. Sora jumped slightly backward as Roxas stomped over.

Upon nearing Sora, Roxas could make out his brother's companion clearer, which he had been ignoring earlier. He frowned.

"Roxas, I-" Sora started, but was cut off by his twin.

"Shut up, Sora." Roxas hissed as his eyes studied Riku.

Riku only stood in silence at his spot, expressionless.

"Uh…Roxas, this is Riku," Sora motioned to Riku. "Riku, this is Roxas, my twin brother." Sora motioned to Roxas.

Riku had nothing particular against Roxas. He found it wouldn't be so hard to manage a polite smile at Sora's twin brother. But the look on Roxas's face kept him from doing so, and he ended up wording, "Hey." He could already tell by the anger radiating off of him that the blond didn't like him.

Instantly, though, he also felt another something being emitted from Roxas; something that was unknown to human and only recognized by Nobody-vampires such as Riku himself. Last time, he had been too far and too preoccupied that he missed something about Roxas. Now he was sure.

_Roxas was taken...by another Nobody-vampire. _

"So you're Riku."

Roxas's eyes studied Riku, particularly at his attire. His eyes flashed a dangerous glint. He said with tone of distaste, "I wouldn't have held anything against _a Riku_ that Sora had come to trust, but now I have witnessed that you're not just a normal vampire."

All of a sudden, Sora was yanked by his hand and he was behind Roxas. The blond stepped back, forcing Sora to do as well. The brunet glanced up at his brother. "Roxas?"

"You're one of _them_." Roxas said through gritted teeth.

Sora couldn't recall the last time he saw his brother this angry. "Roxas?"

"_He_ said only his kind comes with that attire. You're with him!" The older twin raised his voice in anger.

"Who?" Riku challenged, and in all honesty, he had no idea who Roxas was referring to.

"AXEL!" Roxas shouted, heaving a heavy breath.

Sora was confused. Out of nowhere, Roxas had just gone mad with something Sora couldn't follow. He had to grab his brother's shoulder and shook it. "Roxas, _calm_ down!"

Roxas whipped his head to Sora, "And you didn't tell me that he's a Nobody-Vampire!"

"Er, well…what differences does it make?" Sora blurted, trying to sidetrack his brother even though he actually knew what the differences were, _but what did Roxas know?_

"A lot." Roxas bit out.

"Axel?" Riku looked lost in thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "He's a friend of mine. What about him?"

"Huh! Friend of yours? That gives me a reason as to why I shouldn't trust you with Sora!" Roxas fumed.

"Roxas!" Sora forced his hands on his brother's shoulder. "What's gotten into you! What's with this Axel guy? Does he have anything to do with Riku?"

Another moment of silence.

"Roxas. You are taken by Axel, aren't you?" Riku said with straight face.

"Was that…" Anger was fueled into a fiery rage. "Was that supposed to be a joke? 'Cause I'm not laughing!" With that, the blond shoved Sora aside and launched himself to Riku, aiming to hurt the Nobody-Vampire.

"Roxas!" Sora yelled after his brother.

It only took a small effort on Riku's part to step aside and avoid the hit that was intended for him. Roxas regained himself and aimed for another hit, but hands came circling around him from behind. Roxas realized it was Sora trying to stop him.

"Stop already, Roxas!"

"I…didn't know that would anger you. That…I must apologize." Riku said. "I'm just trying to piece things up since you didn't explain anything and was trying to…stop Sora from seeing me."

With Riku's gesture that seemed sincere and Sora's plea, the older twin seemed to calm down, if only slightly. Riku had looked startled by his attack and his expression was genuine when apologizing. Throwing the act of violence away, Roxas forced himself to compose.

Sora slowly removed himself from his brother and asked, "What are you guys talking about? Taken? What does that even mean?"

Roxas turned away moodily.

"Come on, Roxas! I have to know what happened to you! Is this the reason why you're always sad?" Roxas responded with silence and a sullen expression. Sora pressed, "You never tell me anything!"

Roxas sighed before pulled down his collar, revealing Sora the scar on his throat. It was two small, rounded scars that appeared to be a bite mark.

"What?" Sora gasped.

"Sora. When I was in Twilight Town last year, I met this guy Axel. We became friends. I didn't even mind when I discovered that he was a vampire, but after learning about his true identity of Nobody-Vampire, it made things completely different. And in the end, he bit me after loosing his senses." Roxas revealed, and there were an edge in his every word. "They can't be trusted, Sora. They will come to hurt you eventually."

"I will never hurt Sora." Riku told him, his tone clipped.

The blond looked at the vampire sharply. "Axel said the same thing to me…_yeah_, not on purpose." The last one came out in a mocking tone.

"You don't really know why he bit you," Riku countered. From hearing a bit of Roxas's story, Riku managed to piece things up little by little. He could probably clarify it to the twins. "There're three possible reasons why he bit you."

Sora looked at Riku, unspeakably interested.

"First is feeding. We do that sometimes for the purpose of using normal vampire abilities. Second, we turn humans into vampires, that is, we have to empty them first before letting them drink from us. Third, we mark them as the sign that a certain person belongs to a certain Nobody-vampire, and none of the other vampire can meddle with that certain human. It's pretty much like a fledging, but I don't think Axel likes to have one." Riku paused, studying the twins. At least one of them obviously wanted him to continue. "Since you're not dead, not turned, there's only one possibility left, that you're marked. Meaning the vampire keeps a person connected to him. As far as I know, Axel never created a connection with anyone so you must be the first, that means his intention is-"

So much for Riku's sorting; Roxas suddenly shut his eyes tight. He had his hands over his head, and shouted, "It doesn't matter! He hurt me!" And with that, he ran off and disappeared into the night.

Sora's mouth hung open, gaping in shock. He felt as if he was in some kind of dark parody. "_That's_…the first time he forgot about me in this kind of situation. This really must be on his nerves."

"He'll come back to get you." Riku predicted knowingly.

As if on cue, and true to Riku's words, Roxas was back; his face still red with a mix of anger and exhaustion. He ordered, "Sora! Come here!"

Riku almost laughed at the scene, had the situation not been so serious for at least one of them.

Sora looked between Riku and Roxas, overcame with uncertainty.

Riku let out a soft chuckle and said to the bewildered boy. "You should go." He knew Sora was about to say something on the lines of 'but,' so he added, "Go first. Let him calm down. We'll work this out later."

The brunet looked at him for a long while until Roxas called again. Only then did he run to catch up with Roxas. The elder twin snatched the younger's arms and dashed off into the night.

Watching them leave, Riku sighed. Shortly after, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. It appeared to him that they were still there.

"Lonely?" A small squeaky voice asked, belonging to Rikku.

Riku's only response was shoving his gloved hands in his coat pocket and looking away dismissively. "I'll head back to my place."

"Good, we're not hoping to see you lurking around. The less time you spend with your eyes open, the less risk there is for something to go bad." Yuna said and pointed a finger to him. "We're only going easy on you because Rikku and Sora trust you. If something bad happens; we have to take you down."

"Fine, but nothing bad will happen. I won't hurt anyone anyway. I have hardly lost my nerves for 70 years, so I'm pretty confident about my behavior." Riku shrugged, nonchalant.

"Well, that's good to hear." Yuna smiled in her genuineness. "Guess we could do a little sightseeing around town." She addressed her two companions.

"Later, tater!" Cheered Rikku, grinning at Riku

Nodding to acknowledge them, Riku took off, leaving the three to their own conversation.

"What a coincidence," Yuna stated. "Sora happened to be Roxas's brother."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kairi had been friends with Sora since she was 7. They knew each other better than anyone else did. Most people regarded them as best friends. None really ever questioned about their closeness until they turned fourteen, when many started to misinterpret their relationship as being more then just best friends. Though Sora and Kairi had shown a good amount of their closeness, Sora still felt kind of weird when someone assumed that. He would brush them off and Kairi would back him up with the statement.

One thing Sora was totally unaware of was how he didn't know that his closest friend liked him. At some point, Kairi thought he shared the same feelings too. She came before anything in his life, if Roxas wasn't in the count. Kairi thought it was only because Sora was slow.

But being the one closest to him, she always felt that there was something inside Sora that even he himself couldn't understand. Every time they were close enough to share an interaction that would cross the border line of friendship, Sora's mind always went somewhere else.

Since Sora always told her everything and she was always with him, there couldn't be something that she missed. However, she knew that it happened. Maybe the reason of her missing something was because Sora himself had missed something too. Kairi believed that when Sora blanked off, his heart always shifted to that one particular missing thing.

Despite how lively Sora had always been, Kairi discovered that there was an empty void inside Sora's heart. She wanted to fill that void, and she tried. It didn't help, but she still had hoped. After all, she was the only friend who knew exactly what Sora was thinking, what he needed or wanted at the moment, most of the time that is. Basically, she knew what mood Sora was in, that also led her to know the amount of tension or lightness between him and his twin.

As of now, she could tell there was tension, a heavy one at that: between Roxas and Sora when the two came to school in utter silence.

Roxas acknowledged Kairi and walked off to his room without saying anything, leaving the other two in the crowded hallway.

"What's that about?" The girl asked her friend.

"Uh…nothing," Sora lied.

"Nothing?" Kairi sighed and looked out ahead. "You have to do better than that, Sora. Everyone knows that you're so incompetent when it comes to lying." She tilted her head back to her friend. "Is it about Riku?" When she saw the brunet look away, she stated "So it is about him."

Curiosity was getting the best of him. "How do you-"

"-know?" Kairi finished, bending forward to study the look on Sora's face. "When you got something stuck in your head, you barely lie to me that it's nothing, Sora. But when it comes to Riku, you just get all secretive. Did he force you to keep it that way?"

"No! Kairi, what is it that you have against him?" The boy defended. "Is it only your senses that told you not to trust him?"

The redhead sighed while running a hand through her hair. "It's not that…" She paused, not being able to look at her friend. "…I don't know…Sora, let me ask you this: why do you trust him anyway? I mean, everyone knows that you're buddy-buddy with anyone and at the same time everyone knows that you belong to Roxas, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and I. All of us are open to new people, yes, but even still it will always be the six of us in the same close-knitted group. Am I right?"

"Yeah, I know that." Sora nodded in confirmation but he arched his eyebrow soon after. "Why are you asking that? Does it have to do anything with-"

"It's obvious to all of us, or at least to me and Roxas, that you've grown attached to Riku more than anyone else." Kairi stretched, her tone somewhat clipped.

"What?" Sora's jaw dropped.

Kairi's face showed one of disbelief. "Sora! Don't tell me you didn't notice that! You've never looked so happy with stranger more than when you are with us!"

"Uh…" Sora's hand went to the back of his head. "Guess it's because…"

Kairi saw the look in Sora's face, that look she never saw before.

"...he's not a stranger."

"Uh-huh?"

"Kairi." The boy became calm and solemn. "I don't feel to Riku as a stranger or someone I've just met. I feel like…" Sora paused, bringing his hand up and clutched at his shirt. "…I've known him before. I never felt this way before. It's just so….nostalgic."

"Have you two met before?"

"I don't remember. Riku feels the same way."

Kairi studied him for a long moment and posted, "When will you be seeing him next? You always go to him when we're hook up with our works and clubs."

"You mean you want to see him?" The boy asked, hopeful.

The girl looked away and crossed her arms over her chest, something she rarely did. "Yes, though Roxas and I have tried to stop you, it's no use. So I want to find out more about Riku, to see if I can trust him with you. I need to make sure."

Sora laughed in half amusedment. "Kairi, you sound like Roxas! And what? Shouldn't I be the one to look after you?"

Kairi smiled. Sure Sora was the one who looked after her all the time. Kairi was a pretty girl, and no doubt a good number of boys were after her. Sora was always there to fend them off for her if they failed to get the message that she wasn't interested. It was strange that they never were officially a couple as most of the others perceived them.

Sora's eyes were now different; Kairi knew the something that she had failed to fill up for the boy was now being filled by someone else. If Sora was happy, then so was she; and so was everyone else. Although she wasn't sure if she could take the fact that it wasn't her place to fill the void in his heart.

Sora had always been there for her.

"This time I'll protect you," She said, out of nowhere

"Thanks, Kairi." Sora said sheepishly. One moment he was thinking of adding '_thanks, but no thanks'_ but when he saw the determination in her eyes, he decided against it.

Sora beamed. "I'm sure you'll get along very well. You know, Riku loves children's books too." Then his eyes were cast downward, "And…about Roxas and I. Well, to tell you the truth, yesterday when Roxas met Riku, he was outraged." Sora thought fast, he opted not to tell the whole thing about the existence of Nobody-Vampires, but he had to tell the truth. "Riku seems to associate with some guy that Roxas doesn't trust, so he ends up distrusting Riku too."

"I see," Kairi nodded, looking thoughtful. "I don't know much, but we'll see."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm not letting you see Riku again and that's final."

Sora found himself caught in the middle. One moment ago, he thought he'd been able to convince Kairi about Riku, and then the next, Roxas had come out and downright rejected him regarding the matter. He didn't plan to keep it secret with Kairi that they would go pay Riku a visit.

It had always been that way. There were many things that Roxas tried to keep his brother out of, and only few things that he had blatantly forbid them. Sora would know by the harsh tone that his elder twin was using.

Then again there were even only fewer things that Sora would still struggle for, even if his brother hindered it.

Roxas stood his ground. "Now, your friends are waiting, go have lunch with them." At that he turned to leave while saying, "I still have my work to-" He was stopped in the middle of his pace, feeling a hand pulled at the hem of his shirt.

The elder twin heaved big sigh, again. He looked up to the ceiling when he felt his brother's head thudded against his back. At least he was thankful that there was no one around to see them, most students having gone off for lunch. Roxas wasn't as keen as his brother in doing just anything he wanted in public.

"Roxas," The brunet started with a low voice. "You know, Riku tried to take his own life. He might do something bad if I'm not there."

"Sora, this conversation is long overdue. He _certainly _will do something bad even if you are there. They're unlike humans, they have no control. I don't want you to _be _there when it happens." Roxas often wondered if he should just drill a hole and force the words into Sora's stubborn head to make his brother understand.

The soft weight of a head left Roxas's back. Sora circled around to stand in front of him, grabbing Roxas's arms. "What did he exactly do to you, Roxas! That Axel guy, you said he hurt you; he bit you. But if that was all, why are you bothered by it this much? Was there anything more to it?"

The blond turned away, and it was so clear to Sora that Roxas was wounded by something.

"All I can say is…something will come after you." Roxas deadpanned and waited for Sora to fret. When the younger one, he resumed. "But that's not the major concern; those things that will come after you will not come, if you keep away from Riku."

Thinking back to the YRP's explanation about the Nobody, Sora was aware that Roxas was probably talking about the darkness. Yet, his concerns lie more on Roxas.

The boy shook his head. "Roxas, you're going in circles, all you said is for me to keep away from Riku. So WHAT exactly had happened to you?"

"Drop it already, Sora," Roxas ordered as he brushed his brother's hands off of him and started to make his way somewhere else. _'I don't want you to involve with that Riku guy, let alone you involve in my problems.'_

"Roxas, I just want to help!" Sora said, raising his voice.

"You're not helping me by being this way," the blond snapped. "Sora, trust me. You cannot trust Riku," he reversed the topic back to Sora.

"You don't even know him!"

Sometimes his brother could be such a pain beyond all hell. Beside_ another_ person that came into his life, Sora was the only other person that could kick on Roxas's nerve this much. Letting out an angry hiss, he grabbed Sora's arms and swung the boy back, shoving the smaller one against the wall.

Sora who was labeled un-scary, no matter how angry he'd gotten. He was only as scary as a cub. Roxas, however, was a different story.

"Have you forgotten what had happened to you three years ago, Sora? Where you put your trust in a complete stranger and he deceived you!" Roxas growled at the boy who went limp between his arms.

Sora went speechless in realization of Roxas's reminding and in fear of his brother. His eyes cast downwards in defeat, forgetting about the pain on his arms.

"You believe your sense of trusting people, fine! I know they mostly are right, a few of them are wrong. But anyone you trust can be that 'few' and I'm not willing to let you risk it. If such a thing happens again, no one can be sure that anyone would be there to help you out. On top of all, Riku's a vampire; you won't be able to fight him off." Roxas softened his grip on Sora's arms, seeing that his brother was registering his words, for real, this time.

When Sora's eyes became even sadder from the memento of unwanted past event, Roxas's own blue eyes mirrored the expression guiltily as he dipped his head and buried it against Sora's neck. He whispered in cracked voice. "I'm sorry to remind you of such a thing. But this much I can tell you, Sora. _That_…Nobody-Vampire tried to hurt me. I trusted him like you trust Riku. I don't want what happened to me happen to you. You understand, Sora?"

The older twin pulled back slightly enough to peer into Sora's eyes searching for answer.

Slowly, the brunet nodded.

Roxas managed to smile. His forehead touched his brother. "Okay?"

"…okay." Sora nodded again with a faintest whisper.

"Good." The elder one lifted his palm to ruffle the brunet's hair.

"Waaahhh!" came a girl's shriek from behind them.

Both boys turned, and saw Kairi standing there, hands covering her mouth. "What are you guys doing?"

Roxas retreated and skittered away from his brother. He knew Kairi only meant to tease them since it was rare of them to interact on the softer side.

They fell into a light-hearted bickering.

Unknown to them, outside the open window, Riku was there. He had been there the moment the object of his interest started a conversation about him with his twin brother.

Riku only meant to come and see Sora since the sun wasn't beating down that much, offering him a chance to do so.

Although he couldn't make out the whole conversation, he could tell by the look on their faces. How the people that surrounded Sora were so adamant about protecting him from strangers. Moreover, how Sora stood his ground. Deep down he could let himself be pleased with the way that Sora was. Then again, he couldn't feel his face smiling; it darkened with his dark thoughts instead.

'_He has good friend ,a good family, and an overprotective twin brother. Why does he have to care about me? Why?'_

Riku knew the answer to it. It was easy as that. Sora saw him as a frigging suicidal. Being the way Sora was, _how could he not jump in and pull people out of their misery?_

Sora would do that for _anyone_.

He was _nothing_ of special to the boy.

"Riku," A calm voice came from behind him.

Riku's oceanic eyes narrowed as he swiftly looked over his shoulder. On the other trunk behind him silhouetted two figures in the shadow of the trees. One was a spiky, blond haired vampire with blue eyes in dark blue attire; the other was a long, raven-haired vampire with scarlet eyes in dark red cloak.

"So you really back from God knows where," The spiky-haired man began, studying Riku.

"Cloud and Vincent. Fancy meeting you guys here," Riku spoke with a monotone voice. He wasn't sure if he was happy or disappointed, maybe both, to see the two. "Yes, I've returned, as you can see."

The raven-haired man, Vincent, made a noise at that statement.

"I don't know about Vincent. But Cloud…are you still searching for your light? Here?" Riku believed that would begin their conversation, but he was cut short of that.

"We came to relay you a message from your kind," Cloud stated calmly.

Riku had a bad feeling about this, "…And that is?"

"Your kinds felt your connection return." Vincent spoke. "Therefore, Master Ansem requires your presence. You are to return to the Realm of Darkness."

To be continued…


	7. Interlude 2 : RikuKairi & RoxasSora case

Special Thanks to RecklessxDreamer for Beta-reading (since prior chapter)

These are two chapters putting together. Hope you enjoy!

**Interlude 2: The book of KH: Riku and Kairi's case**

_Opening a book is a journey to the other worlds…_

X

Sora couldn't be happier.

It all started with just a little talk about the book that Riku had given Kairi. From then, Riku and Kairi went onto titles of other books. And they couldn't stop conversing about all the other story books that they came across in their lives.

Sora couldn't really catch up with them, given that he didn't read much, but he didn't mind at all. He only kept listening to them ramble on about story books. Their opinions over few books clashed but they had pretty much the same taste.

Sora was surprised on how people could make so much conversation solely out of books.

Only when they came to the _'Kingdom Hearts' _book was Sora included in the conversation.

"That book was written by Namine. She wrote few books but she never really wanted to publicize her work. I was the one who urged her to do so and she agreed to let me be a person in charge." Here, Riku smiled, as if he'd been proud of himself. "There were only a handful of places where she allowed her books to go." Then Riku paused, his eyes blanked out for a while and he finished. "That was 10 years ago. I doubt if she wants her book to be in bookstore. The book store owner didn't even know where it came from, so there must be a mistake."

"So it just happened to be there, and you were thinking of getting it back to Namine?" Sora assumed.

"Then why did you give it to me?" Kairi asked instantly.

Riku's eyes lay on the book's cover and he traced his finger over it absentmindedly. "There was no hint of anyone touching the book, Kairi was the first one. And…somehow, Kairi and Namine…smelled the same. So I figured Namine won't mind if Kairi keep it."

Sora and Kairi quirked their brows. Then Kairi shifted the book into Riku's hand and said, "If it belongs to Namine, you should return it to her."

"That's fine, I'll tell her about it once I meet her, then she gets to decide," Riku confirmed as he pushed the book back to Kairi.

"So, who exactly is Namine? A friend of yours?"Sora asked, interested.

"Yeah…" Riku paused, eyeing Sora slightly. At the time Sora was fast enough to catch the silent message.

Namine wasn't human. She could be Riku's kind or something else. But they couldn't discuss about that now in the presence of Kairi.

Somehow, Kairi seemed to know that something was going on between them. To break the awkwardness, Riku disclosed, "I'll tell you guys one thing then, whether you're going to believe it or not." Riku jabbed the cover of the book with one finger and began, "This, she wrote out of her vision."

Sora nodded, trying to register along while Kairi guessed, "You mean, she wrote it from her premonition?"

"Not exactly. Do you guys believe in alternative universe? That somewhere out there; there is someone like you, who may be exactly like you, but not you. Everything they do reflect us and in turn, we reflect them. Worlds are connected and so are we." Riku theorized.

"Roxas is going to love this conversation," Sora inserted.

"Okay, let's say we believe that. So?" Kairi prompted.

"So…Namine has this ability to travel her sights to that alternate universe and write about it, that's what I think. Namine herself didn't really think she could control such ability, she said it just happened."

Playing with the hem of his shirt, Sora looked down and began, "The dream…"

Sora didn't ask anything more, but Riku remembered and realized. "Oh, your dream. It could be connected with this in someway, but that's beyond me. If only we could get to Namine…"

"She lives far?" Kairi asked, wanting to solve the riddle behind Sora's dream as well.

"Not far, but in another dimension, to put it in easiest terms." Riku grinned.

While Sora knew that was for a fact, Kairi took it for a joke and commented with bored tone, "Very funny."

"You know what's even funnier than that?" Soraraised up. When the other two shook their heads, Sora said, "These three kids in the book kinda look like us."

X

**Interlude 2.2 Roxas and Sora's case **

"Not that I have problem with it or want it to change, but…why do you have to be so submissive when it comes to your brother? Sure he's your older brother, but only by a few seconds. Most twins don't treat one another as older or younger."

Sora looked at Riku while Riku stared off at the distant ocean. The older boy still seemed to be eager for an answer, though, Sora was lost in thought for lengthy amount of time.

His brother and Riku weren't on good terms, and he didn't know exactly why. Even though Riku offered a truce with Roxas, whichRoxas downright refused, Riku was beginning to get upset and for some reason…wanted Sora to be on his side too.

Sora felt obliged to explain. It had been a while he told this to anyone.

"Our parents work a charity job, so they've always been busy. It's usually only me and Roxas." The brunet nodded to himself and laughed, "Roxas actually goes against Mum's teaching that 'we should look after each other' given that he mostly looks after me."

Riku felt the edginess in his heart when Sora smiled as he talked about this. That was the connection Roxas had with Sora.

"Well, there was this thing that happened…I think I was nine at that time. There was this bully, Junior Ota and his gang, at school. He pretty much picked on anyone, and one day I stood in the way of him and one of the younger kids. I wasn't thinking; I was just so angry and I ended up yelling at him. Evidently, this got him pissed but before that Ota-guy could do anything to me, Roxas had rushed in with a teacher. After that, Roxas scolded me for not calling a teacher and taking the matter into my own hands. I was still angry, and I argued with him. I told him that I didn't have to listen to him. We stayed mad at each other until the next day. I walked back home without waiting for him. Along the way I was pulled into the alley and I found myself facing Ota-guy and his gang." Sora stopped and asked, "I guess you know the rest?"

Riku nodded, yet he urgedSora to continue.

"They gave me a small reminder about their detentions. Then, they rounded on me and started beating me up. When I was on the ground, I was truly afraid, but then I heard shouting. Someone was trying to stop them from hurting me, and I realized it was Roxas. I had no idea why he was there, but he was also defenseless against five boys that were twice the size of both of us. But since it was me they wanted, they only pushed Roxas away, not really even hurting him." Sora paused, wearing a crooked smile on his face.

Riku knew that kind of smile. It wasn't such a pleasant memory.

"The next thing I knew, Roxas was on top of me, shielding me from every kick and hit that was meant for me. They all yelled at him to get off, I did as well, but Roxas was stuck to me like glue. So they ended up beating us both up until some adults showed up and stopped them." At this, Sora drew his knees up to his chest, his hands encircling it. "Roxas got six broken bones and bruises all over his body, while I only got few bruises here and there. Imagine it, six broken bones at the age of nine."

"That's awful…and I bet you felt guilty for every single bone he'd broken." Riku pointed out knowingly.

"Right." The brunet nodded. "Kairi was there when the adults came. I found out from her later that Roxas was aware the bullies might come after me, so he had followed me home while Kairi tagged along behind. I didn't even notice. When he saw me get pulled into the alley, he told Kairi to get help while he came to me right away."

"That's quite a story. I shall never question about you and your twin brother that way again." Riku stated, and then he asked more. "Where are those guys now? The ones that beat you and your brother up."

"They're still at school," Sora answered, pretty carefree, until his mind processed Riku's weird tone. "Wait; don't tell me you're going pay them a visit or something."

"Soon I will," Riku confirmed.

Sora waved his hands side to side in frantic. "No, no, no! That's a long time ago already! It's in the past; they received fair punishments from school and their parents. They've never messed with us again after. You don't have anything to do with it anyway."

"You're too forgiving," Riku commented with a wry smile.

The boy scratched the back of his head. "It's been so long since the incident; I couldn't hold my anger for that long."

Riku studied the boy for a long while and turned away. "I would."

The brunet blinked at him. "But…it's tiring, you know…hating people."

"I bet you've never ever hated someone before in your life?" Riku questioned.

"No? No. I hate that Ota-Sempai for picking up on people and hurting Roxas back then," Sora said as he fisted his hands.

"Back then, but not now. When you hate someone only for a short period of time, it isn't called hate, Sora." Riku clarified.

"It isn't?" Sora looked sideways. "Well, it's not important. It's better to think of something you like better than something you don't."

Riku laughed a little. "I figured you would say that. You would rather think about something lovely rather than entertaining the thought of beating the daylights out of someone."

Sora fisted a knuckle to his sides, enthusiastic. "Come on, man. The world is full of life and colors!"

"Only this world."Riku said, expressionless.

Sora's shoulders sagged, but he tried again. "Aw, c'mon, Riku. Maybe you've been hanging out in darkness too long. You gotta try and think positive!"

Riku observed the boy again. "I don't know how you put up with me."

"What?"

"Others would have left already, hanging around this gloomy Nobody all day would only wear you down." Riku pointed a finger at himself. "But you're still here. Tell me, how you put up with a people like me."

The younger shrugged. "I don't know."

Riku sighed. "Even heroes have a limit, but it seems like you don't. And you're quite the hero in your own way."

"Wow, that's quite a compliment." The boy blushed a little, a hand going to the back of his head once again.

'_But you've never been to any other worlds. Out there is different. This place here is always heart-warming and free of conflict and chaos. I wonder…No, if it's Sora….he'll be fine.'_

"Sora."

"Huh?"

"Don't ever change."


	8. Ch 6 Victims of Fate

**Saving 6 Victims of Fate**

Riku's breath was caught in his throat for a few seconds before he breathed out. "A request or an order?"

"The latter," Cloud answered.

Riku heaved big sigh. "I don't take orders from anyone anymore."

"Then maybe you should consider it as a request." Vincent altered.

"I don't have any choice in this, do I?" Riku glared at them.

"We can't answer that. Our kind will not have anything to with this," Vincent explained, stoic as Riku had always remembered him.

"Riku, the choice is yours, we're just the messengers. I still have to brief you though." When Riku gave a hesitant nod, Cloud spoke, "A lot has been going on since you left. It's Xehanort…you remember him?"

Riku grunted at the name of his former master. He really didn't want to remember the very man who'd taught him how to kill and embrace the darkness. Xehanort wanted to become whole by taking the liberty of intervening in the other worlds. All of his plans proposed to their Master, the Superior, were forbid.

"Ansem's number one apprentice…what about him?" Riku questioned.

"Since he didn't succeed in convincing Ansem about making them whole, he left; probably at the same time as your departure. Little was known after that, but as far as your people knew, he'd gathered enough Nobody-Vampires to join his scheme. Now they have 12 members, including Master Ansem's former apprentices, as well as Axel and Demyx," Cloud relayed.

"Axel and Demyx too?" Riku asked, having known and used to be closed to the two. "What about Namine? I told Axel to look after her."

Cloud shrugged. "From what I've heard: they said_ 'It'll be fun, you know? Just doing everything freely without codes or conducts'. _As for Namine, she's still with your people; Axel did ask her if she'd be fine on her own and she said yes. She was a worried though; she wanted to see you too."

Riku sighed; at least Namine was still on Ansem's side. Axel and Demyx weren't his worries, they were well capable of looking after their own asses.

"Okay, continue with the Xehanort-topic," Riku beckoned.

"He changed his name to Xemnas, since he was well known as Master Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. He wished to renew himself." Cloud paused, and Riku could tell the next point would be important. "He wanted to overthrow your current master, Ansem. So then all Nobody-Vampires would live by his rules."

Riku looked bored. "That…I had that feeling years ago."

Cloud and Vincent exchanged glances. No one ever came across the possibility of that, and Riku didn't say anything. He could have warned someone before he left, but he didn't. He was too tired to care for anything anymore.

"With his twelve members, they are planning a scheme to fulfill their wish. They called themselves Organization XIII," Cloud came to the point.

"Organization XIII? Aren't there twelve of them?" Riku questioned again.

"That's the thing, Riku. Xemnas wants you to take the position of Number XIII," Cloud finished.

Silence reigned as Riku's earlier expressionless face turned shocked and when realization set in, he blurted out, "WHAT? ME? He should have known why I left him in the first place. I hated his way of living. I couldn't accept it. What on earth gives him the idea that I would side with him."

"We_ know_ that, Riku, and he _knows_ that. But he created you; he is your original master, and therefore, he has power over you. To force you on his side, he could do absolutely_ anything_." Cloud pressed the last word, and felt the slightest piece of guilt that he had caused someone as calm as Riku to shudder.

"You're lucky that we found you first; Xemnas must have sent someone to search for you already too," Vincent added.

Riku's head dropped into his hand as he groaned.

Cloud reached out and grabbed Riku by the shoulder. "You'll be safer with your people in the Realm of Darkness. Moreover, Master Ansem left you with his last wish."

"What do you mean?" Riku brought his face out of his palm. "Where's Master Ansem?"

"He's gone," Cloud answered with a solemn expression, and not waiting for Riku's response, he continued. "Before he suddenly vanished, he'd told us of his speculation that Xemnas is up to something and might be planning to get rid of him. He stated '_If such should happen, find Riku and let him find the Secret Ansem Report in the hands of our trusted friend.'"_

"Trusted friend? Who would that be?" Riku brought his hands to his chin.

"That…you have to ask yourself." Cloud pointed out. "After Ansem was betrayed by Xehanort, he couldn't find himself to trust anyone, but you're his exception."

Oceanic eyes widened as he felt the words that came out of his tongue were forced. "Is that a joke? So Master Ansem left and hands off everything to me?"

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple," came Vincent deep voice. "Ansem didn't leave; he was banished, certainly by the hands of Xehanort and his followers. None of your people could feel the connection to him, but they didn't feel him dead either."

"It's like…he was suddenly gone," Cloud added, "But no one knows where he went."

"Realm of Nothingness," Riku trailed off. "It's the only place where there is no existence. You go there; you still live, but you don't exist. That must be the only place Ansem was sent to, given that he's not dead but nowhere to be found."

"How did you know that?" Cloud and Vincent questioned in unison.

"Because I just came from there," Riku said.

Cloud regarded Riku for a long time before he ended the topic, "Anyways, Riku. You have a task that needs to be done. If you decided on that, we'll deliver you back to the Realm of Darkness. If not, then we'll be on our way."

Riku wanted to curse so bad. For a moment there, he was just sitting and watching Sora, then the next, his old, distant kin just appeared and told him his race required him to carry on with his Master's last wish to save their race and probably all the worlds or whatever.

What if he didn't go with them? Then Xemnas would probably find him and place him in the position that he didn't want, which would be worse considering that he at least favored Ansem more than Xehanort. But both were still their own dilemma.

"How much time do I have?" Riku asked, hoping for the good answer.

"We have to leave as soon as possible." Vincent replied.

Bad answer.

"Give me some time." Riku bargained.

"The longer we wait, the higher the risk. Riku, this isn't about your race only. It's about every world. If Organization XIII conquers us all, then they'll conquer the other worlds, including this one here." Cloud pressed.

Riku narrowed his eyes at the two. Cloud and Vincent are Jenova's Vampires. They are kin to Nobody-Vampires, yes, but they never really showed that they do care about anything. Somehow, Riku always knew their interiors were different from their usual cold and uncaring exterior. Even now, they were answering his in-depth and personal questions as if they were one of his kind. They had changed, that much Riku surmised.

Riku would have smiled, if they hadn't come with a bad news. However, still feeling as if something was stuck in his throat, Riku concluded, "One week then."

"Okay," Cloud agreed on the matter before Vincent could say anything. He was sure Riku wouldn't go back on his word.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Something's bothering you," Sora said as he peered up at the other's long face which seemed startled at his words. That was when Sora added, "Tell me, I might be able to help." With that said, he pulled back with a wooden sword, tight in his grip.

They were sparring, as usual. Once Sora stepped out of school, Riku appeared out of nowhere, asking Sora to come with him. Sora had dropped into pensive state for a while; his brother's order coming back to him. But upon seeing Riku's face, he thought he could go with _'I didn't go to Riku. Riku came to see me and blah blah blah.'_

If Roxas found out, not only would his life be in grave danger, but Riku's as well.

_Oh well_…As of now, they were sparring.

"It doesn't concern you," Riku replied with impassive air as the tip of his sword brushed past Sora's and hit the boy's shoulder.

"Ouch!" The brunet made a face that displayed that he was hurt both physically and emotionally. He wouldn't give up still; he rushed in and tried to retaliate. "Considering that we are friends, anything that concerns you also concerns…_me_!" While pressing the last word, Sora charged right in and managed to land a hit on Riku's leg.

Riku fell with a hiss, and Sora was dumbstruck for a good minute. It was obvious to him that Riku was slipping. His movements didn't seem as precise; they were rather rushed and sloppy. Sora knew _something_ really_ ticked _Riku off.

"Tell me, Riku! No use keeping all the bad stuff to yourself," Sora urged again.

"I told you it's none of your concern," the Nobody-Vampire repeated.

"And I told you we're friends. What concerns you concerns-"

"_It doesn't concern you!"_ Riku was aggravated, snapping at the brunet.

Being spoken to in that tone by Riku, Sora was only coerced to get angry. He frowned and huffed while he closed the distance between them. Lifting a hand with a sword up above his head, he glared down at Riku. He made it obvious to which direction he would be landing a blow.

The Nobody-Vampire thought the boy was just bluffing, but this assumption was proven wrong when the hit did come, and kept coming. Sora kept hitting him with that similar pattern and Riku fended it off each time with his sword. They were not sparring anymore. Sora was only hitting him out of sheer anger.

"Argh! Stop it, Sora!" Riku demanded, looking up at the standing boy through the endless swirls of hits. He wondered what Sora was thinking, behaving like a kid. Was he even aware of that?

Sora didn't stop and each blow became harsher and harsher. Despite being scrawny and small, Sora did pack quite a blow.

Until Riku decided that he had enough, the frustration built on the top of his head. He threw his wooden sword away, grabbed Sora's sword, and turned it against the owner by hitting it against his closest part: Sora's outstretched hand.

At the moment, he wasn't thinking straight due to having a lot on mind and he hadn't bothered to hold back his strength.

It was only when Sora cried out and clutched at his right hand did Riku realize what he had done.

At the realization, he cursed, "Shit! Sora!" Throwing aside the sword for a second time; he got up to his feet and tried to catch Sora's hand that'd been hit. Due to pain, Sora curled his left hand over the right one, his form bent forward, cutting Riku's vision to his face and his hand. "Come on, Sora! Let me see!"

The brunet shot up. And when the hands came into Riku's line of vision, he reached for them. But Sora yanked his hands away, stood to the side and hid his injured hand away from Riku's view.

Thinking that the boy got mad at him for the blow, Riku began, "Sora!"

"It doesn't concern you! So don't bother!" The smaller boy shouted while making a face at Riku. It was only then that Riku figured out the real reason behind Sora's behavior. He believed, though, that their causes were different.

"I hurt you. Therefore it concerns me. Now let me see your hand!" The Nobody-Vampire reasoned. Too bad his reasoning didn't work against the boy named Sora.

"No, it's my hand. It doesn't concern you!" The boy shouted and hissed at the pain almost at the same time.

Riku practically growled. He had only one nerve left for the bloody day, and Sora was getting on it. He advanced closer in milliseconds and pulled at Sora's shoulder to make him turn. The smaller boy couldn't do much anymore to protest him. Riku took Sora's right wrist in his and didn't let go when the boy tried to pull back.

Failing to fight against Riku's strength, Sora made a loud whiny noise, readying to say something in protest. But he was cut short when Riku yelled.

"Sora!" It was loud and clear, coming out with a finalized tone which had success in shutting the boy up, leaving only the pout on his tight lips. Riku sighed and lessened his grip when he felt the other had given in. "Look, I'm sorry for whatever I've done to make you angry, okay? Just let me see your wound first. Then you can whine and protest all you want later."

There were some small noises emitted from the brunet.

Would Sora ever give up? No! But Riku chose to ignore it and studied the wound.

Riku found that his wrist wasn't broken. Though the bluish-purple mark began to form; and judging by its color, the bruise would run deep. He looked around restlessly before he put his gaze back on Sora. He blinked at how intensely Sora was studying him. He wondered why, but it wasn't a time for him to ask. First things first: Sora's wrist.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"There." Riku let go off Sora's hand at last, after he finished nursing it. Then he arranged the medicines and bandages back into the med kit. Good thing they had one here in the tree house. Riku had learned earlier from Sora that Roxas and Wakka put the supplies here just in case.

Sora mumbled a 'thank you', but his expression was far from appreciation.

"I'm sorry…about the hand," Riku apologized as he slid the medical kit back into its pedestrian position.

"So you'd rather hurt me than talking things out," Sora grouched.

Riku's eyebrows furrowed. "Was that your way of telling me to talk things out? Hitting me like that?"

His face remaining turned to the side, Sora huffed again. "I told you and you just didn't get it. You're such a dork."

"Sora." The Nobody-Vampire pressed with a warning tone. "Why don't you get it that there're things that people don't…or even can't come out and just say? Not everyone is like you. And I thought you understood how to respect people's privacy?" Riku didn't want another fight, but he had to be honest.

The brunet spun his head to face the Nobody-Vampire, his face lit with anger. "Sure! Maybe I could let you live alone in your head, like Roxas! So I'll never know what the heck is wrong with you in your own gloomy world. I'm only a stranger to you anyway!"

'_Oh, that's why. It's about Roxas too,'_ Riku realized. Since Sora's own brother closed up on him, he's not able to take it again with another person. It made Riku wondered just how important he was to Sora. And on second thought, he wanted to know if Sora would ever take him for who he was now, even with the bad history attached. So his words slipped out, "Sora…If I'm a man…no, a monster convicted of gravely crime…What would you do?"

When Sora searched Riku's face, the Nobody-Vampire didn't allow his eyes to be seen. Sora fell into pensive state for a while before his answer was presented. "Well, I'd say I have to kick your ass a few times depending on what you've done. Then I'd tell you to never do such a thing again."

Riku glanced at the boy, his face partially revealed to Sora. His hair obscured most part of his face still. "Never do it again doesn't mean I haven't done it before."

Sora narrowed his eyes at how Riku would always contradict him, especially regarding the dark side of his past. It made Sora wondered why Riku had to punish himself so much with that amount of guilt. He was curious as to what Riku had done, but his concern lies more on Riku's feelings. "Done before, doesn't mean you have to keep doing it." He got to his feet and looked at Riku, who was still. "I don't know what you've been through. But…you shouldn't be thinking about the mistakes you've made; think about the mistakes you might make in the future so you might be able to prevent them. That's what Kairi told me."

A smile crossed Riku's features, making Sora feel satisfied, but for only a moment, for it had to come crashing down as Riku said. "That's exactly what I'm concerned about, Sora." Riku paused, drawing a breath. "Remember what YRP told you? About someone who made the world disappear? It was me. They didn't know about my history, I can only assume that they hadn't been born yet at the time."

By then, Riku got himself up as well so he could look Sora square in the face. He wasn't surprise at how the boy's face already changed expression. But it did sting his heart.

"Many…were lost to the darkness on that stormy night, all because of me. I didn't mean to, but I couldn't stop it." Riku finished with solemn mood, then he brought one of his hands up and tucked Sora's strand of hair. "And now I fear that I will destroy this world as well." His hand moved to touch the boy's youthful face which held nothing but stunned expression. "I might destroy you as well. I destroy everything I touch."

When Sora gasped, Riku withdrew his hand and looked away.

Just when Riku thought that Sora was scared by him, Sora just shove his hands on Riku's shoulder and spun him back to face the boy's frowning face. "No, you don't, Riku! You, you…!" And Sora was lost. What could he possibly say to vindicate that Riku wasn't that way? That he wasn't a monster of destruction?

The Nobody-Vampire only smiled and shook his head. "You don't have to say anything. No one can escape the truth."

"But…but!" Sora as well shook his head, far more vehement than Riku. Then he shot up, "But I trust you! And nothing's gonna change that!"

"You really are too easy to confide in someone you don't even know, Sora," Riku repeated what he had once said.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Sora's grip on Riku's shoulder tightened. His blue eyes bored into Riku's green ones. "I know you."

Both of them were surprised into silence by how much they actually believed those words. But neither of them voiced it.

"Look, the darkness wouldn't form unless you will it or you use the dark power, right? Before the time runs out, we'll figure something out. All right?" The brunet tapped his hands on Riku's shoulder lightly.

"Optimistic as always." The Nobody-Vampire found himself smirking again. He was amused as to how a normal boy like Sora could melt the tensed atmosphere as easy.

Upon seeing a smirk grew across Riku's lips, Sora's heart was lifted. In all honesty, he once thought Riku's smirk was irking since he always wore that kind of smile when he made Sora feel small. Later, Sora knew otherwise. Riku's smirk didn't bother him any longer. It only meant that Riku was being Riku he'd always known.

"One more thing about what you've done." Sora looked into the other's eyes and was surprised to see them startle. Still, he continued, "Riku. I can't say I can go easy on that since it's a huge deal-"

The taller one was ready for the upcoming chide.

"-but I'll make sure I'll be there to stop you from doing that next time."

Riku's eyebrow quirked up. It made him wonder again about how Sora could say that, and even with such an air of confidence. Wasn't Sora getting anything at all? Sora was only an island boy who ran around with a wooden sword, living a happy youthful life. What could he possibly do to stop the intense darkness that Riku was carrying?

Riku wished he could believe in that, but he knew he couldn't stay. And he found it hard to tell Sora that he would have to leave soon anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Days later…

At the secret cave on the small island appeared the figure, clad in black. He looked around the vast space in the dimly lit cave, lingering for a while before feeling the presence of darkness.

Nobody-Vampire's darkness reeked in the air. Unshaped darkness, nevertheless, the darkness. It meant to him that he would be able to find the person he was looking for…_here._

It took him months to find this place. There was always some of a Nobody-Vampire's darkness left in almost every other world, but he couldn't distinguish which one belonged to whom. He was informed that his subject held a different darkness. It was tenser and if any Nobody-Vampire willed it, the darkness would take shape to have a life of its own.

For the time being, he didn't care about that. His goal was only to fulfill his master's wish that was failed earlier when they lost their trail with the two former Nobodies who were assigned to find this certain Nobody-Vampire and bring him back whether he wanted it or not, but they never returned.

His eyes caught and followed the trail that led to the outside world. He set his feet out of the cave's area, his eyes narrowed as he brought his gloved hands to shield the sunlight from his eyes. He found himself on the small island, and up across the ocean in short distance laid a small town on a main island.

The figure held out his hand, and a dark oval portal appeared, swirling about. He went through and appeared again somewhere on the main island. Then he set out to follow the trail to that certain darkness.

It took him a while before he had come to the area where the certain darkness lingered last. He looked up and found himself surprised.

The school?

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

There was only one person in the school that had darkness lingered about him, but Zexion knew the boy was not a Nobody-Vampire. So the boy wasn't the one he was looking for, but still… He knew it was Riku's darkness. It only meant one thing: Riku must have some sort of association with this boy

Zexion took in the brunet's features as the boy continued a cheerful chat with his friends. He heard the boy's name from his friend's lips, which was all he needed. Prepared conversation was constructed in his mind as he sauntered over to them.

When the boy noticed him standing in the way, he looked up at the taller one and blinked questioningly. Before the boy said anything, he began in polite manners, "May I have a word with you?"

The boy looked at him up and down, and then his mouth parted. Zexion supposed that the boy took in his attire and was now linking him to Riku. He glanced over to his friend as if to request privacy. When Sora nodded to them in reassurance, they gathered themselves away, leaving Sora alone with the stranger.

"You must be Sora," Zexion stated. "I'm Riku's brother, Zexion."

Sora's eyes lit up with interest and he trailed off amiably, "That explained the similarities."

'Naïve,' was Zexion's mental note. He was aware that Sora might take him as Nobody-Vampire since, judging from Riku's conduct; he must have already revealed to the boy that he was one. Zexion read thousands of books and this boy wasn't any different from the open one. Sora didn't care less about the danger of the vampire.

He felt a smile pulled at his lips.

"Riku never told me he has a brother," Sora said.

Zexion remained calm as ever. From the look on the boy's face, which Zexion decided that every expression on it was served direct from his heart, Sora wasn't the least bit suspicious.

"But he never really told me about anything though," Sora added, voice fading into a murmur. It made Zexion arched his eyebrow, noting the boy's brief sullen demeanor. Then Sora perked up again. "Well, you came to visit Riku?" Another pause, then a sudden jump, "Wait! Don't tell me you came to bring him back to somewhere, uh…home?"

"Not quite," the man said, needing no time to think of how to respond since he already planned everything.

"Not…quite?"

From the boy's last question, Zexion heeded that the boy did know something. And before he took any action, he needed to learn more, to draw out concrete information. He suggested, "Want to hear about it? When school's over, meet me at the park."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Riku's brother?" Kairi narrowed her eyes as she inclined toward Sora who was beside her desk. They were now in their classroom, waiting for the teacher to show up.

"Yup, you saw the resemblance," Sora grinned, feeling a lot better now that he could bring Riku's topic out to the open with his best friend.

"Resemblance of outer shell, yes. Insides, no," The girl commented.

"Ha ha, I didn't know you could see his bones," Sora opted for a joke at first, then dropped into a serious tone. "Don't tell me you don't trust him too."

"Correct." That was right to the point.

"Why?"

"He's different from Riku."

"How?"

Kairi's eyes rolled upwards, thinking.

"Oh, come on, Kairi! Maybe a talk or two with him would change your mind as it did with Riku?" Sora remarked, the thought of bringing Kairi along to converse with Zexion crossed his mind.

"No! He's really unlike Riku. I didn't trust Riku at first because he was this…dark, gloomy kind that could drag you down!" The redhead hissed in a low tone.

"Eh? Okay, but now you know Riku's not that kind. So…how's Zexion in your opinion?"

"He's like a schemer. Don't you see the look in his eyes?" Kairi's voice dropped into a whisper.

Sora made a face. He folded his arms over his chest, tilting his head up and down, thinking hard. The 'NO' signs were written all over his face.

Unfortunately, the conversation was cut to end when the teacher arrived.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora made it to the park. He couldn't believe himself that he had to do so by avoiding Kairi, but he couldn't help it, Kairi would have made sure to stop him tag along if she knew. Seriously, he thought the girl was worrying too much about nothing. To him, Kairi was becoming like a 2nd Roxas. He didn't want to have to handle a 2nd one since he already had hard times dealing with the first.

The brunet pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind when he spotted Zexion under one of the shady trees. He went in to settle down next to the man and struck up a conversation with a carefree tone, "Have you gone to see Riku?"

"Not yet," the silver-haired man replied as he closed the large book that he'd been reading.

"Oh! I haven't told you; he's at the-"

"-cave on the remote island? Yes, I know that," the man finished._ 'This boy really has no sense of awareness.' _After the thought, he brought up the opening so he could get right into details. "I just haven't seen him for too long. And since he left that time, the intent was for forever. His…coming back, wasn't expected. Therefore, I'm not sure if he wants to see me, or any of us."

"Oh…yeah," Sora had to agree. '_Riku had been intent on leaving forever.'_

"Seems like you know quite a lot about him? Do you mind sharing?" Zexion requested.

"Not at all!"

'_Easy.'_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zexion's earlier confidence was partially gone. As much as he predicted that he could draw everything about Riku from Sora, the boy apparently didn't get into details. One moment, he noticed that the boy was mentally debating with himself whether to tell about how he met Riku or not. At last, the boy's decision was that he wouldn't stretch out the entire story.

All Zexion learned from Sora was that Riku was lonely, gloomy, and snappy at some points but kind, helpful, and a smart-ass, etc, etc, etc. The information was pretty much what Zexion already knew. Except one thing was that Sora took Riku as a friend and it seemed like Riku return the sentiment.

What Zexion wanted to learn from the boy was his relationship with Riku.

"That's as much as I know. Riku never really told me much about him," the statement left Sora with a pout and fidgety hands.

Zexion's eyes shifted to Sora's hand, the boy's only body parts that were moving. "What happened to your hand?"

"Umm, sparring with Riku last time. He hit it too hard by accident, but I was the one who provoked him first. I was too angry with him then." That had caught Zexion's attention, and Sora didn't seem like he was going to stop, which benefited the man. "I felt that he was hiding something from me that bothered him. Later he told me that it was his past, but I just felt that there was something more." Upon seeing the brunet boy fist his hands above his knees, Zexion surmised that Riku _strongly _meant something to Sora and he could only surmise Riku return that too.

Zexion finally cleared his throat and drew the main subject.

"Riku will be carrying a heavy burden very soon."

As expected, Sora looked more than concerned. Blue eyes set into a worried frown as they locked on Zexion.

"I assume that you know he's a Nobody-Vampire, correct?" Getting a nod from the boy, he continued. "Denizens of light…hate the darkness like us. Still they accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light. They loathe us who teeter on the edge of Nothing. We who were turned away by both light and dark never given a choice." Zexion paused, drew in a breath and resumed, "How do you think we feel?"

"Sad," Sora answered. His mind reeled back to his silver-haired friend.

"We just want to exist and not live under the name of 'Nobody' or abide by the rules of Nobodies. Most of us love to explore the broader horizon, just like Riku. Since we don't need blood to sustain our being, we won't be hurting anyone. Even with the darkness that we carry, why can't we be free…and complete?"

"Yeah, I know what it's like," Sora agreed.

"You do?" Zexion asked, curious. When receiving a nod from the boy, he raised a point. "Why is that? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you look like the type that is loved and happy with your life."

It made Sora rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "Well, I am happy, but…I've had this ambition since I was little."

His response didn't give Zexion much of an answer, but the man predicted otherwise. "You've gained great influence from Riku. Had you met Riku when you were younger?"

Stopping dead in his tracks, Sora's hand remained at the back of his head. "Umm, I'm not really sure myself. Perhaps?"

"Was that 8 years ago?"

"How'd you know that?"

Something clicked in Zexion's mind; he put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "There's a rumor flying around that he'd come back temporally 8 years ago. No one knows for sure."

The little off tangent was left at that, and then the conversation rebounded back to the main issue.

"So what's Riku's burden?"

"Riku will be joining our Organization. We'll work to strife for our rights and freedom as Nobody."

"Can I help him in anyway?" Sora bent in a little toward Zexion to emphasize his point.

As calm and collected as Zexion's trait would allow him to be, the Nobody still couldn't help a doubtful expression come across his face. In a second, he comprehended that the boy was new to the outside world. This boy who lived in a small world such as Destiny Islands had no idea what the real thing was like out there. Yet he acted like he could do everything according to his will. But Zexion saw the opportunity in that, and he asked,"You would?"

"Sure! No fair that Nobody-Vampires have to live incomplete." Then Sora's perky expression dropped into a lower tone but still intense when he continued. "And if it's anything I can do to lift the burden off of Riku's shoulders, no matter how small it is, I'll do it."

Another pleased smile grew across Zexion's face. With Sora, he predicted he could finish his task in no time. He nodded to the boy. "Good, we can start by seeking him out first. I need to have a word with him after all." When Sora was about to get up, too eager to help out, Zexion halted the boy. "We don't need to go anywhere. Riku and I are under the same master's bond, we're connected. I'll call to him."

The boy blinked and flopped himself back down and started to get out a question, but when Zexion raised a hand, motioning him to stop so he could concentrate, Sora complied.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku felt an unwelcoming jolt over his senses. He paused in his strides and leaned against the nearby wall. Clutching his hands over his face as a cold sweat began to form. _Someone_ had extended the connection to him, calling him. It wasn't Cloud or Vincent, those two had no connection with him.

The bond of blood was shared by a single master. Riku knew a certain Nobody-Vampire was using the dark telepathy to find him was one on Xemnas' side. After all, Riku was created by Xemnas.

He concentrated and pulled out the direction.

Riku reached the park, eyes studying the surroundings about him. He found only a few people passing by. Somehow, the darkness from a certain spot under one of the huge trees hadn't gotten past him though.

Oceanic eyes narrowed as he mused about the possibility that the Nobody-Vampire on Xemnas' side came looking for him. Even though he was not in favor of wanting to encounter one, he still forced himself to go on, having to make sure that whoever the person was, wouldn't be messing with this world.

He caught sight of a Nobody-Vampire with slate hair. While Riku tried to sort out another vampire's identity from his memory, his heart skipped a beat as he took in the form of another person beside the Nobody. Before he could have done anything, the said unknown vampire met his gaze. Shortly after, he directed a finger towards Riku, causing the boy beside him to look over his shoulder in Riku's direction.

A grin crossed the brunet's features as he called ou. "Riku!"

Why was Sora with another Nobody-vampire? At the moment Riku didn't really need an answer; he needed to get to Sora's side. And so he did.

As in reflection, Sora got himself up from the grassy ground and waved to Riku. "Riku, your brother came to see you!"

'_What the?' _Riku mused. Upon seeing the boy safe and sound, and even cheerful (when wasn't he not anyway?), Riku intended not to get too ahead of himself. He masked his apprehension as he reached Sora's side then eyed down at the other Nobody-vampire.

"Riku, you never told me you have a brother," Sora started.

Riku kept his eyes on another Nobody and spoke, "That's because I don't."

"What?"

Ignoring Sora's question, Riku stepped closer to the sitting man. His eyes studied the man in closer range and he'd been able to catch on. "I remember you." He paused, looking at the man again. "You're one of Ansem's apprentices…Zexion?"

Zexion let a satisfied smile grow on his face. He got up, dusting off the grass. "What a pleasure that you still remember me. Correct, I'm Zexion. _Once _Ansem's apprentice, but no longer."

"That means you're with Xemnas now," Riku pointed crossly.

Sora looked between the two, and he caught that there was something about the sides. Zexion told him the difference between Master Xemnas and Master Ansem. But at the time he didn't really care about the complicated subject. The easier question in his head was delivered off instead. "Umm, not your brother?" This time he turned to Zexion since Riku ignored him.

Addressing back to Sora, Zexion said, "We are. By the same Master's blood running in our veins. Riku finds that fact hard to admit."

"I abandoned the belief of being a Nobody-Vampire under the command of the Master a long time ago," Riku declared flatly.

"Oh…but you can't escape it. You know it in your heart that you still are…until the day you die, Riku." Zexion returned.

Riku's eyes flashed but he composed himself. Zexion was right after all. He might be able to escape everything when he was in Realm of Nothingness. Sadly, things didn't work the same way in the real world.

Seeing the dejected expression in the younger Nobody-Vampire's eyes, Zexion sighed. "Leave that. We have more important matters to discuss about. By the way, I assume that Axel and Demyx hadn't yet paid you a visit, yes?" Upon Riku's firm shakes of his head, Zexion sighed. "Can't trust those two to do the job." To Riku's astonishment, Zexion murmured to Sora. "Sora. Would you help me explain to him a little? I think he's a little rebellious against his brother."

"Uh?" Sora exclaimed out of the daze after he had been left out of the conversation for a while.

Riku gaped at Sora._ 'What the heck does Sora have to do with this?'_

Sora told Riku what Zexion had told him. When Sora's silence marked the end of the short details, Riku decided against himself to bring up the issue of darkness. What would they care? He used to be exactly like them, he knew. Hell, he was told a 1000 times over that not everyone was going to change like him.

Riku was angry. Now Sora knew something about Zexion really ticked Riku off.

"So what do you say? Number XIII?" Zexion asked.

"I'm afraid that I have to decline your offer," Riku grounded out.

Zexion sighed at the answer. With one step, he positioned himself behind Sora. "Is that your final decision?" Zexion asked as he raised one of his hands, lingering his fingers behind Sora's neck. A devious smirk replaced the smile that he'd been wearing all day.

Oceanic green eyes widened at the sight. "You!" Riku cursed. Screw him for not wanting to get too ahead of himself and putting Sora in the safety range beforehand.

That only made Zexion's smirk grow. However, it wasn't long before the brunet made a sudden jump away from his position. Getting out of Zexion's arm's reach, Riku took the opportunity to pull the boy's hand and yanked Sora behind him.

Sora peeked from behind Riku with a doubtful expression. He hadn't been able to grasp much of anything. Somehow, he realized Riku and Zexion hadn't been on good terms. Given that Riku looked ready to punch something when Zexion stood behind him. It made Kairi's words rushed back to him. A slight feeling of insecurity came across, causing him to shift to the safety of his friend instead. He didn't need to think twice about whom to trust when he fell into this kind of situation.

Zexion's expression went blank momentarily before he closed his eyes with a wry smile. Letting his hands slack down to the side, he applauded. "I'm impressed. I didn't expect someone naïve like you to actually notice it." He took a step closer to Riku. "Very well then. You don't have to give me the answer now. Just think about it. You know what I can do and I _will _do to get you in the position of Number XIII." He spared a glance to Sora at that.

With that said he backed off and stretched one of his hands to the side. The black swirls began to form in an oval shape. Zexion stepped through it and the dark violet swirls was gone into thin air, along with Zexion.

Sora looked on with wide eyes as Riku rushed to the spot where Zexion had disappeared. Too late for Riku to stop him, the Nobody-Vampire could only exhaled a dejected sigh and looked back at Sora.

"What in the world was that?" Came Sora's first question, and Riku knew that wouldn't be the only question.

"I'll answer your questions, but you ought to answer mine first." Riku made his way back to Sora. "Did he do anything to you? Except talking, did he do anything out of peculiar?"

"No…?" Sora answered, unsure.

"Did he touch you?" Riku landed his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder.

"Umm…no?" The boy answered again and squeaked when Riku's hand shifted from the shoulders and groped all over him, starting from his chest to his stomach. "Riku!"

Retreating his hands, Riku let off another sigh of relief. "Looks like you're okay."

"Of course, I'm okay. I told you so-"

"Can't be too sure. Xemnas' 12 followers have different kinds of abilities. We never know which one posts a threat, with eyes unseen." Riku explained as his face scrunched up in frustration. "Damn it, why did he come to you anyway?"

Trying not to flinch away from how angry Riku had gotten, Sora answered. "He came to me at school, introducing himself as your brother. He asked me if we could meet up, I said yes."

Riku's face dropped into his hand. "_That_…is dangerous. You shouldn't trust people so easily."

"But…" Sora's eyes glared off sideways. "I thought he could tell me more about you-" Riku quirked an eyebrow at that before Sora added. "He did, he also told me that you'll be carrying a heavy burden because you have to take the place of Number XIII and assist your kind and…Master Xemnas? …But you reject them?"

Jaw dropped, Riku hastened to amend what Sora had understood. "Sora, Zexion messed with your head! Xemnas isn't someone you would want to side with. Ansem was right about Nobody-Vampires and that they shouldn't meddle with the affairs of other worlds. All Nobodies should abide by the rules so their darkness won't cause something chaotic as mine once did. Zexion's not supposed to be here…I'm not supposed to be here." Riku's voice dropped somewhere above the whisper at the last one.

Sora went quiet as he digested the information.

The Nobody shook his head. "I spent too much time with you. That's why my darkness lingers on you. Zexion must have used that lead. Dammit, I shouldn't have-"

Sora didn't look happy. Most likely from the unspoken process that should be done to keep him safe. Riku just hated to have Sora involved.

Seeing his friend in thoughtful state, Sora decided to alter the subject. "Umm, so I guess that's how your people disappeared so quickly? Is that some sort of magical teleportation?"

"It's not something you should concern yourself with," Riku said, trying to sound neutral.

"Riku. You're not going to go away, are you?" Anxiousness was thick in Sora's voice.

Riku didn't answer. What could he say? His kind requested him to join them to carry out Ansem's last wish. Zexion forced him to join Organization XIII to overthrow Ansem. Either way, he couldn't be around Sora. At least, the former was more preferable, but in doing that, he couldn't put Sora out of the harm way.

If Riku was that important to them, his decision would lead to either better or worse consequences. What if he declined both and let them go have a war on their own and leave him the hell out of this?

He couldn't be too sure. It had been long ago since he'd last known all of those Nobodies' abilities. From old information stored in his head, Xemnas was once Ansem's apprentice. Theoretically, a student couldn't surpass his Master, in most cases. However, the fact that Ansem the Wise had gone missing and Xemnas was responsible for that had proven otherwise. If Xemnas got to rule the world, it would be chaos.

"Riku. When will you quit living in your head and tell me what exactly is going on?"

Sora's voice broke into his thoughts. Riku eyed the smaller boy when he forced his hands on Riku's shoulders.

"Can't I help?"

The Nobody studied the brunet, his eyes slightly widened at those words. Then he narrowed them until they slid closed. He gave a firm shake of his head. He couldn't let Sora fell into anymore risk, and it backfired on him that he had to stand up with Sora's hurt look.

"Look, Sora. I'll let you know if there's something you can do, okay?" Then Riku had to ignore Sora's expression that clearly showed that the boy found that that promise might never be fulfilled. Riku couldn't blame the boy; he hadn't honestly meant it after all.

"Anyway, you've got to be careful from now on. I'll seek Zexion out and negotiate with him. I'll make sure he won't mess with you." Riku reassured.

"That's not what I'm concerned about," The brunet replied with a hard glare.

Knowing what Sora was implying, Riku answered frustrated. "Your concern is _not_ my concern right _now_." He paused, and looked anywhere but at the boy. "I'll take you home. You should be safe there. Vampires can't enter anyone's house uninvited." With that, Riku ushered Sora home.

Sora exhaled a long sigh. He never took Riku as someone stubborn; stubborn was his talent, not Riku's, but Riku sure _couldn't _understand his frigging_ point_. All he could do was just give up for a day. Pushing things more than limit wouldn't be a good idea, given that Riku seemed to have a little patience left. He complied at last.

"Fine."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time they reached Sora's house, Riku could tell that Sora had been aggravated with the silence in the air since their journey home. Riku patted his hand on the smaller boy's back to usher him up the porch. The gesture didn't help much as Sora made no response as he unlocked the door. Before he open it, Riku called off.

"I will not let Zexion harm you. Until I'm completely sure that he wouldn't touch you, you have to be in your house before the sun sets. Nobody-Vampires can't hurt anyone with the presence of the sun. You must also stay away from the place where light can't reach. Keep that in mind." Riku waited until he received a firm nod, making sure the boy had taken his warning to his head. He turned to leave and heard Sora murmured his weak bye.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku sought Zexion out and found the man at the very cave where the door to other worlds was situated. As soon as their eyes met, Riku wasted no time in demanding.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Oh, Riku." The man cooed as he eyed the younger one up and down. "Master Xemnas regards you as a bright one. Don't you already know what's going on from that much Sora had told you?"

Sure Riku already understood the whole situation, he just needed clarification. "Why did you drag Sora into this?"

Zexion smiled, and instead of answering, he questioned, "What is he to you?"

"He's just a passerby," Riku responded airily.

Eyes narrowing, Zexion crossed his arms over his chest. "Is that so? He seemed to know quite a lot more about you than what a passerby would, probably knows you more than you know yourself." He ignored Riku's aggravated expression and resumed, "Moreover, he really cares about you, given that he's so hell-bent to lift any little burden he could off of your shoulders."

"He's. Just. A. Passer. By." Riku repeated, stressing every syllable. "I assume that in coming to invite me for the position of Number XIII, you would have read about my background from Xemnas. It must have stated that I hadn't involved myself with any human since…forever." Riku leveled his hand over his chest. "Humans keep dying while I continued to live. What's the use of being connected to those who would soon perish?"

"Right," responded Zexion, his tone was far from convinced. "Perhaps there's always an exception."

"Damn it. Leave the human out of this," Riku concluded, tiring of the argument.

"So you do care about that boy," Zexion rebounded back to the topic.

"I just don't want anyone who's not involved to be involved," Riku admitted at last.

"Don't you wish to become whole?"

"It doesn't matter to me."

"I see. But keep in mind that you're bound to Master Xemnas, like we, the 12 Nobodies, are. You can't escape from us. Sooner or later, you'll have to walk our path. I'll give you a week while I keep my connection open to you. If you can't come to a good decision, you know you'll learn. Meanwhile, I have to resume my search for Axel and Demyx who initially were responsible in finding you before they disappeared during the assignment. Until then-"

Riku rushed to the man's position, but Zexion was faster.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx


	9. Ch 7 Arrival of Shadows and the Past

**Saving 7 Arrival of Shadows and the Past**

Kairi was beginning to trust Riku, which made Sora very happy. She had always been someone whom he could confide in. Yet, he still couldn't tell her the truth about Riku.

He felt as if he was bound not to tell her.

After school, in the late afternoon, they went to the play-island to pay Riku a visit. The first place they searched was the tree house. When Riku wasn't there, they wondered off separate ways to look for him.

Upon seeing Kairi slip into the shack, Sora drew himself closer to the cave, and poked his head inside the cavern entrance. He called for his friend, "Riku?"

_Tch._

Sora heard a sound. Assuming that it was Riku since the vampire claimed that he would be the only one there, Sora brought himself inside the cave.

The tittering sounds became clearer. Sora figured it was a mouse or something; and he didn't put a thought into it. So he was caught off guard when something ran over his feet and he fell to the ground with a "whoa!"

He got back up and looked around; it was too dim for him to be able to see all that well. Sora narrowed his eyes and made out something small and black at his feet.

_It_ seemed to have a head, two feet, two clawed hands with only three fingers, and two antennas sticking out of its head. It was clumsily rubbing its own face. _'Is my mind playing tricks with me?' _Sora wondered if it hit him by accident. Sora kept his eyes on the strange creature until it lifted its head up.

Sora gasped as the two bright yellow eyes gazed up at him.

"What the-?" He let out.

The creature suddenly jumped on his chest. In the cramped space, Sora couldn't move much. Sora didn't see how the creature would pose as any danger, with its size so small and looking so much like a little lost boy. So he waited and watched as the yellow-eyed creature stared at him in the face. His assumption was proven wrong when he felt a sharp pain over his cheek.

The creature had scratched him.

"Ouch!" Sora gasped and threw the creature off of him as he clutched his left cheek where trail of blood began to ooze out. It was only then that Sora came to realization that the creature wasn't harmless. He pulled himself out of a daze, and scurried out the exit. Once he got himself out, he pushed the thicket together at best to close the opening.

"Kairi!"

Shortly after, the redhead girl appeared from the shack's door. "Sora, what happened to your face!" She asked in concern and started to hurry to the brunet, but was stopped by him.

"Stay back, Kairi!" Sora shouted back.

"What's wrong?" Kairi frowned.

Sora wasn't sure what to do. For one thing, the creature was dangerous. But curiosity nagged at him; he wanted to see the creature in the clear light. He asked for a wooden sword from Kairi and told her to stay away.

A minute later, a tittering noise found its way to their ears. Kairi watched anxiously when the thicket of the cave entrance moved and Sora tightened his grip on the wooden sword.

And out…came a small dark creature.

Kairi's fear dissipated, and she almost laughed. She let herself relax and hopped over to where Sora was, then finally laughed. "Sora, it's just a little…." She paused, looking at the creature, "what is it?"

"I don't know." Sora took a step toward the creature, to block the way between the creature and his friend just for precaution. With the tip of his wooden sword, he poked the small creature gently. "But don't think it's harmless; look what it did to me." He referred to his left cheek.

The little dark creature only kept jerking its head left then right.

Kairi glared at it for a moment before she brushed passed Sora and grabbed the small creatures by its two small hands and raised it up to her eye level. "Hey, you! Why did you hurt Sora like that! And what are you exactly?"

Sora could only watch in surprise, and then he had his laugh as well. "Kairi, sometimes, you're really bold."

Giving a soft chuckle in return, Kairi whirled the creature which was still left dangling helplessly and said, "Let's forget about this. I think it's a kind of a mouse or something. Let's take a look at your wound first."

"It's okay, Kairi." Sora said, smiling. "Hand it to me; we don't know what it will do. I think it does attack, so we can't take it lightly."

Sora got the creature from Kairi, and not really knowing what to do, he just threw it back into the cave and pushed the huge rock to block the cavern entrance. When they were about to walk away, the creature appeared yet again. The brunet and the redhead exchanged glances and both shrugged.

"Do you think it's angry?" Kairi asked with slightest hint of worry.

"I don't think it looks angry." The boy shrugged again, wondering how it could have come out again after its way was blocked.

Before they both could decide what to do with the little black one, they started to hear more titters from the cave.

"Do you think there is more of it, Sora?" Kairi asked, more agitated this time. She wasn't afraid of one little creature, but more of them could make a difference. Sora's wound wasn't just a small scratch after all.

"I hope not," Sora responded.

As if on cue, something dark began leaking out of the huge rock that covered the cave entrance. Then there appeared to be one more, two more, three more, then many more.

"Wha-!" Sora and Kairi shouted in unison.

It could have been only an annoying fuss at first, when the creatures ran around, grabbing their hands and feet. Sora kicked most of them away from Kairi while the girl herself managed to ward them off, not being totally helpless.

"It doesn't stop, Sora!" Kairi cried, feeling the threat by now.

This wasn't normal anymore. Each and every creature was able to sink themselves into the ground and reappear a few feet away.

With a heavy whirl of his wooden sword, Sora sent the creatures flying away to open some means of escape. He grabbed Kairi's hand and rushed out of the circle that the creatures created. They had only made it few paces before Sora's feet were brought out from under him and he fell. Kairi who hadn't fallen with him, whirled back and tried to help the boy up.

That was when she realized something.

The little dark creatures no longer tried to get to her. They were only clawing at Sora's feet as they started climbing up his legs and his back. Her eyes wondered, searching for the reason. The difference she and Sora had was…her presence under the sunlight, while Sora was in still the shadow.

"Sora! They are afraid of light." Kairi tried to pull her friend, but could only move Sora's arms.

The little creatures held fast and started packing themselves up in a small tower over Sora. "Arg! Get off!" He hissed an irritating groan, but it didn't help, the creatures stayed stubbornly on his back, weighing him down.

"You leave Sora alone!" Kairi also yelled as she grabbed the nearby makeshift weapon and swung it at the creatures. Her attack was in vain since the creatures were becoming more insistent. Still, she kept hitting until a creature dug its claw into her arm, deep.

Drops of blood splattered on Sora's face when he looked up. "That's enough, Kairi! Go get help!"

Turning deaf ears to him, Kairi pulled Sora's hand once more. The result wasn't any different. It wasn't long until Sora's entire body was covered with the creatures, making Kairi shriek, "Somebody, help us!"

_Pang!_

There was a sound of gunshot, and the creatures above Sora were neutralized, vanishing into thin air.

Kairi blinked at that, whipping her head to the side. She saw the gunman in a red cloak. Coming after him, another man in a dark blue cloak appeared. With the gigantic sword he carried, he decapitated all the creatures that had been bothering them. As soon as Sora's head came into view, Kairi hurriedly groped for his hands. "Sora!"

Feeling the weight on his back decrease, the boy looked up dazedly as he pushed himself up with Kairi's help. By that time, all the creatures were gone. Sora observed that his savior was a strange blue-eyed man with blond, spiky hair, a lot like Sora's himself, only spikier. There was another man with a gun, but he'd already disappeared into the cave.

Once the commotion ended, the blond man stared down at them, particularly Sora.

"Thanks…er…" Sora uttered.

"Stay away from the cave. You don't want to fall into darkness," the man said.

While Sora was puzzled by that, another man reappeared and called to his companion. "Time to leave, they're coming."

Before Sora could ask anything, they were gone as fast as they had come. Shortly after, the YRP arrived.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

A trivial introduction was made between Kairi and the three little fairies. And thankfully, questions weren't thrown at him as much as he'd expected. Kairi was fast on the uptake and accepted that what she saw was real: there were fairies who were also the vampire hunters, and there were vampires. She was a little shaken though.

Disclosures were made since the YRP had no intention on hiding their identities from Kairi. They had showed up because they sensed the danger. Sora had the feeling that he shouldn't tell them about the two mysterious saviors, so he didn't. On the part of their identities, it must be put aside.

They were in Kairi's room at her house. The house was enormous, considering that it was the mayor's house. Her parents weren't home.

"You're the mayor's daughter?" Rikku asked what was obvious to her.

"In law, yes." Kairi corrected, as she trained her eyes on Sora's wounds, nursing them carefully.

"Kairi was found washed ashore on the night of the Meteor Rain, seven years ago." Sora added a little history. "I believed that she must have come from the other world." Sora looked at Kairi. "If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks."

The three fairies exchanged a silent message among themselves as how Kairi wasn't upset at all by the fact that she didn't know about her past. But there seemed to be something that affected her, something from Sora's words.

"Right," Kairi said, her eyes whisked away but Sora hadn't noticed. "I would have said you're welcome, Sora. But you've always believed about the other worlds even before I came."

The boy blinked a few times and grinned sheepishly. "Oh? Right, heh heh."

Rikku looked between the two; there was something odd about it. Sora spaced off a bit and Kairi looked somewhat sad. The blonde girl cocked her head, wondering why until Kairi announced, "I'll go get Sora some clothes." Only then that Rikku was able to pick it up: Kairi couldn't take it. Rikku shot up and flew after her, volunteering to accompany her which made the redhead smile in return. Then they left the room.

"So, what are those things that attacked us?" Sora decided it was time for questions.

"Those things that attacked you and Kairi are 'Shadows,' they are the creatures of darkness." Yuna's eyes darkened. "A Nobody-Vampire's darkness."

"A Nobody's?" Sora echoed, and his eyes widened in realization.

Yuna nodded, "They came from Riku. Although we don't know if he's letting go of his control over the darkness or if he uses the dark power-"

"Riku wouldn't turn back on his words," Sora interjected.

"We knew you'd say that. However, like we told you, wherever he goes, the darkness follows. Riku cannot stay here."

The revelation hit Sora. Hard. He looked down, trying to form words. "But…aren't there ways to stop those Shadow things?"

"NO, unless their host is dead," The black fairy crossed her chest again, looking moody.

"No way," Sora's face contorted into anger.

Paine's dark eyes narrowed. "Shadows are the lowest form of the Darkness' creatures. Think of level one to one hundred: Shadows are at the one. There is more to what you've seen, and there will certainly be something worst to come than you'll ever imagine if Riku continues to stay. You're lucky that Shadows have no intelligence, else, they would have aimed for your throat rather than wasting time scratching you up other places."

The brunet shuddered, and that just wasn't all to it.

"Sora, there's one more thing." Yuna almost sympathized with the boy, but she had to let him know. "The Shadows attack randomly since they know nothing. However, they could attack a certain human who had the smell of darkness with him. Last time at Twilight Town, the boy named Roxas was attacked by 'Neoshadows.' They are a higher level of creatures of Darkness, next to the common Shadow-"

"What! Roxas was attacked?"

"Yes, because he became a friend to Axel, one of the Nobody-Vampires. That guy, unlike Riku, didn't bother to keep watch of his darkness and freely used his dark powers. You see…that made them stronger, like Neoshadows, instead of common Shadow. Axel declined to leave Twilight Town at first, but eventually gave in for some reason which we believe involved Roxas."

Sora found himself unable to say anything. Things were starting to fall into place. So that was the reason why Roxas was always sad when he came back from Twilight Town.

"Sora, keep in mind that your case is the same as your brother's. Shadows attacked you on purpose, because you're a human that is particularly close to Riku."

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Does something bother you about the way Sora talked about the other worlds?" Rikku asked, floating beside Kairi as they made their way to her father's room.

Kairi was quiet for a while, and then she looked ahead. "It's just that…I've always wondered why Sora, of all people, would want to go on adventures to other worlds. He has his family and friends; he's happy. Most people just don't talk about going to somewhere else if their life is perfect where they are." Here, Kairi paused, her gaze dropped. "Well, not that Sora is like most people. I've known from Roxas, his twin brother-"

'_Oh, that overprotective brother,_' Rikku thought while maintaining her attention on the redhead.

"Sora never ever thought of going anywhere far from home. It was only when Roxas went to Twilight Town; leaving Sora alone here that he began to have the thought of leaving. At first, we thought it was Sora just going through a rebellious phase, but Sora isn't that kind."

"You've always been with him, haven't you? Did you notice any changes in any time of his life?" Rikku pointed out.

Spending time in thought for a while, Kairi nodded. "There was one riddle that no one could solve till now. It was about half a year since Sora and I became friends. One day, on the play island, he showed up, crying. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he didn't know. That time, I could do nothing except console him in anyway I could. But when I thought back about it, a six year old kid just doesn't cry without reason. It was only after that that Sora began spacing out occasionally."

"I see, so that was 8 years ago."

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

When Kairi got back with a large shirt for Sora, there were two things that Sora did. One was disclosing to Kairi, and two was convincing the YRP that he'd take the matter into his own hands, regarding Riku.

Riku must leave Destiny Islands before something worse came, that is.

It was also known to Sora that Darkness only appeared in one certain area in each world. For Destiny Islands, it was the cave itself. Worlds were connected, and if the darkness followed a Nobody who was in a certain world, it would only enter through only one threshold.

What Roxas had always said was right. Something would come after Sora. He had witnessed with his own eyes today. The darkness had injured Kairi and he wouldn't want it to happen ever again. Not to his best friend, not to anyone.

So he was now strolling down the walkway, not really knowing where to go. "Riku, where could you be?" Sora trailed off with a sigh, not really expecting his question to be answered. So he was pretty caught off guard when out of nowhere, a figure clad in black landed in front of him.

The figure stood up and turned to face Sora.

"Riku, I…was looking for you."

"Same here, Sora."

Both didn't seem happy, and both wondered why. Sora didn't chide Riku for jumping right in front of him. On the other hand, when the brunet stepped backward out of alarm, Riku didn't smirk.

"Why are you in those huge clothes?" The huge patch on Sora's cheek caught Riku's attention, making him reach out. But Sora recoiled away; his behavior was more than enough to send Riku backing away as well.

Sora's head ran with too many things. His initial plan was to see Riku and just tell him to leave since Riku's presence would only bring chaos. Seemed easy enough. _Riku gave me his word that he wouldn't kill himself; he would be fine by himself, wouldn't he? _However, Sora doubted that was the only reason that they were drawn to each other. Sora wasn't a psychiatrist, nor was Riku a suicidal patient.

"Not happy to see me?"

Sora glanced sideways, suddenly becoming interested with sidewalk while saying. "We need to talk; you have a moment?"

"_The thing is…a Nobody, who supposedly is the one responsible for the darkness that leaks out of him and causes trouble, doesn't come with the connection of their creatures of darkness. So he's unaware of the trouble that he's causing."_ The YRP noted him with that disturbing fact.

"I have something I need to tell you too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

They brought themselves to Sora's house. Climbing the stairs, they settled in Sora's room.

"You go first, Sora," Riku said as he leaned against the wall.

Sora, after setting himself on the chair, only went quiet. Riku, acting a bit distant already created the air of awkwardness.

'_Go on, tell him to go away. He is destroying your world. Everyone will be harmed by the darkness if he stays.'_ Simple sentences were ready to slip off of his tongue so everything would be over with.

"Riku…"

"…Yeah?"

"…"

Sora was unable to say it.

A hand reached out, and tugged one of his long sleeves up, revealing bandages and a few small scratches. Sora's head shot up at the sudden contact from the other.

"What are all of these?" Riku already lifted Sora's arm up, studying the bandages. "Sora, what happened?"

'_Tell him, tell him it's because of him.'_ Sora knew he'd failed on that speaking part when Riku was just looking like that at him. He tried to pull his arm back, but Riku didn't allow him to. Sora said, "It's nothing that you should be concern about."

In response, Riku chuckled. "You were pretty consistent on the first time I yelled at you to get lost, so I could do the same. I'm concerned, Sora." He studied the wounds once more, then a deep frown set on his face. "Darn it. Is this from…a Shadow?"

"You knew?"

Riku's fear was confirmed. Sora was hurt…because of him.

Sora must have picked up on that for he brought one thing up, "But you have the control over your darkness."

There was only one way that darkness could take shape without involving him, that is…some other Nobody must have shaped it up into the creatures of Shadows. There was no one else…but Zexion. He must have looked shocked enough that Sora said, "I'm fine. Erm, there were these two men, one with a big sword and another one with a gun. They saved me and Kairi. Are they your friends?"

Pressing his hand against his forehead, Riku looked away. _'I asked Cloud and Vincent to keep an eye on Sora while I was gone. They didn't promise anything, still-'_

"Riku?" The smaller boy called, trying to get a better look at his friend. "Really, I and Kairi are fine, okay?"

Riku looked back at Sora, knowing the other wouldn't blame him for anything. But that was the problem; he wouldn't know when Sora was in trouble. He didn't want Sora to get hurt. He traced his fingers along Sora's face. His fingers stumbled upon the scotch patch that covered the wounds. He pulled it off.

"Oww!" The smaller boy groaned at the sudden itch of pain. "Riku, what are you-"

"Shh-" The vampire cooed, taking Sora's jaws in both of his hands. Then he pressed his lips to where the gash had been.

"Nng…" Sora gasped.

"Shh-" Riku repeated. "Stay still."

Sora felt the warm wetness over his cheek. _Was Riku running his tongue over his cheek?_ Sora's eyes squinted shut, his mind was screaming. It took Riku a while to pull away, and chuckled. Only then that Sora opened his eyes to glare at the one that dared laugh at him at the moment.

Once again, Riku trailed his thumb along Sora's cheek where the gash should have been, but Sora felt nothing. No sting, the gash was gone.

"Vampire's blood heals wound." Riku stated. From the corner of his mouth, spot of blood hung.

'_Is that Riku's blood? He bit his own tongue!' _Sora only gaped at him; he hadn't yet recovered well enough from what Riku had done. He could even barely stand. Oblivious to Sora's state of mind, Riku reached for Sora's arms. He pulled the sleeve up, and began to remove the bandages.

"Riku, what are you doing?"

"Taking responsibilities."

It took Sora a while to see the meaning behind those words. "What! You mean…you'll…er…you'll tend all of my wounds…by…er…?" Sora gaped, pulling his arm back, but Riku didn't let go. "You…don't have to…really."

"But your blood taste great, would have been lots better without the antiseptic you have on." Riku did smirk this time.

"Wha-!" Sora managed to yank his hand out of Riku's grip. His eyes analyzed Riku. "Was that the only reason you did that?"

"No. I did it because I wanted to." Riku said, his eyes as well, analyzed Sora. Once Riku was done with that line, he pressed his lips against Sora's own.

Sora's eyes widened and he swore his mind was shut down.

Meanwhile, Riku waited for Sora to either lean in for more or push him away. Sora didn't react in either way, so Riku took another step by pressing further. This time, he felt Sora melt into him. It brought back the feeling of something that he'd longed for. He couldn't quite put a finger on, but there was one thing he was sure of…he wanted more.

He pulled back, only to observe how Sora would react. Sora looked completely red, out of breath, but the boy was far from repulsed. It took a while before Sora lifted his eyes to face him, then he knew Sora returned his feelings.

That was enough for Riku to crush his lips back onto Sora's again. This time, with Sora's wobbling feet, he fell back on the ground, with Riku on top of him. The pain from the wounds was forgotten when Riku's lips meshed with Sora's.

"Ri…Riku..wait…"

Riku's lips traveled down to Sora's jaw line and then down his neck. He nuzzled his chin against the crook of the boy's neck as his hands seized Sora's.

"Riku…what are you doing?" Sora started to push Riku back with his hands, but Riku didn't budge.

Riku noticed when the boy tensed, he assured. "Shh…I'm not going to bite you."

"That's not what I was thinking." Sora said, he wasn't even in the state of mind where he was aware that Riku was a vampire. He couldn't think of anything. He craned his head to the side, wondering why his hands were pinned. "But…what are we doing exactly?"

Riku paused, lifting his head up to take a good look at the boy beneath him. Once again, Riku found himself on the edge of laughter. Of all the people he'd met, Sora had been the most amusing. He loved how Sora could sometimes be _totally clueless_. He laughed at last, unable to hold it back. "God, Sora. You're so dense."

That did it, Sora was angry. He forced Riku's grip back and shoved the Nobody off of him, scrambling himself a few feet away. Riku only watched him in amusement as the boy turned back, huffing. "Does that mean you've done that with anyone?"

Riku's eyebrows arched. _Is Sora jealous? _He challenged back. "You really think that, Sora? That I'm that kind of person?"

The boy looked caught off guard, turning away. "Er…no?"

Riku smiled. "I've never wanted to get close to anyone that way. But with you, it's different." He closed his eyes, hand lingering above his chest. "I've never felt this way before, Sora."

"…Me…neither." The brunet confessed as he looked down, eyes glued to the floor. _'This isn't happening, this isn't happening!' _

"So we're feeling the same way, but why do you look so sad?" Riku peered down at the brunet.

Sora shut his eyes tight, not daring to look in the other's eyes. He didn't want to say it, yet he had to. "…I…I was supposed to…tell you…" That didn't come out right; he'd planned to tell Riku to leave, _right? _He was supposed to say it _firmly._

Despite how incoherent Sora was, Riku knew. "-that I should leave because of my darkness?" When Sora still said nothing, Riku sighed, his hand pressing against his forehead. "And what I was going to tell you is that…beside Zexion, there were these people who came to get me back too, to my world."

That day…Riku hadn't left yet, and Sora had the strangest dream ever.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Memories are sleeping. When the right thing comes along and wakes the memory up, we can remember it._

_The memories engraved in our hearts never go away._

X

He felt himself falling and drowning at the same time, yet it was, in a strange way.

Sora was beginning to learn and get accustom to this feelings. This was exactly where he would dream about the part of his life that he had forgotten.

His past with Riku.

Sora braced himself; he was eager to discover more.

Then he saw a much younger version of himself there…running around the island that he'd come to know, like the back of his hand. Roxas wasn't there at the time, but he wasn't lonely. He was with Riku.

It had been almost 6 months that they were together. Sora couldn't be happier; he had Riku, and his new friends: Kairi, and the others. His brother was coming back soon. Practically, he couldn't help but bounce around at the day…just to have his energy drained when he entered the secret place to meet up with Riku and learn that something was off.

He quirked an eyebrow when his eyes settled upon the figure in the dark corner. Riku was sitting, starring off into the space.

Riku's initial conversation shattered Sora's day.

"Sora, what if I'm gone?"

Young Sora looked up at the taller boy, his blue eyes written with questions. "What?" He asked as he brought himself closer to place his small hands on Riku's folded arms. "Are you going somewhere?"

Riku was regarded with worried expression. A small smile crossed his lips because little Sora was anxious about him leaving and a part of him feared that it would be hard for the both of them. He sighed and answered the boy's question "Yeah. I kind of…have to leave. My time here…is up."

"B…but I thought you'd stay. What do you mean your time is up?"

Riku found it in himself that it was a mistake to lead Sora on that he could stay forever. "I can't, Sora." Riku's face fell as he avoided the boy's eyes. "I can't…my darkness will destroy your world and everything you hold dear. I can't let that happen. I have to go away."

Sora settled himself right in front of sitting Riku, literally on the older one's lap. He searched for Riku's face. "What are you saying? I don't understand. You're not destroying anything, so why do you have to go?"

Of course, Sora wouldn't understand, he was only a 7 years old kid. Although he knew every tale of Riku's adventures, he had not a single idea about the darkness that the Nobody carried.

"So where will you be going? Can't I come too?" The little boy found himself asking.

Riku shook his head.

"Well…maybe we can meet up sometimes?"

Another shake of his head.

"But you promised that we'd go together!" Sora had lost his short patience.

"I'm…sorry." Riku closed his eyes and turned away.

Getting an apology from Riku wasn't a good sign to Sora. Riku always stood up with his cocky attitude and a smirk plastered on his face, not crouching like this, let alone apologize.

Silence surrounded them for a minute that felt like hours for both of them before Riku heard an initial sob.

Riku's instinct told him that he should just let the boy be. A 7 years old kid spending time with someone much older than him could have grown attached, but Sora would grow out of it. Someday he'd forget they ever met. Soon it'd become only a memory, like it did when everyone died away from Riku.

Sora had never cried in front of him, not even once; the sight and sound was twisting his insides. He couldn't take this, he was about to get up, but found it to be the hardest part to handle when Sora threw his small body over him. Small hands and arms latching to him while burying his face in the crook of his neck.

"But-" Sora croaked.

Riku could let Sora cry with his _buts _all day, but he couldn't afford that. Prying small hands off of him, he took Sora by the shoulders and forced a smile. "You got your friends, Sora. You got your family and a brother who'll be coming back soon." '_You don't need me.'_

"But you're _my _best friend!"

Pain ran across Riku's heart. Part of him felt the funny feeling of it all to have a seven year old called him best friend. But Riku had to agree with that. Being around young Sora made him feel like he was a kid again, if he ever was once, that is.

He had allowed himself to forget everything when he was with Sora. He was too free…too careless.

"Yeah. As you are mine," Riku said, giving affectionate ruffle on Sora's hair. Shortly after, he dropped his hands and declared, "But it ends here."

Riku knew the boy wouldn't give up. He could make the boy believe that he would be coming back, so the little thing would stop clinging to him now. Still, he couldn't find a heart to lie. He had told 1000s of people 1000s of ugly lies, so why would only 1 white lie to a boy was so difficult?

Their bond was too strong to break in a moment. Riku didn't know what to do, and Sora's desperate cries was disturbing him to the core of his being, given that he'd never seen Sora cried before, let alone the fact that he was the cause. By desperate measure, he threw the boy down on his back.

Sora yelped, his crying went off momentarily as he stopped and stared with wide eyes at the Nobody-vampire hovering above him. Riku pressed his hands against Sora's small ones, preventing the boy from moving.

"Maybe it would be better if you forgot about me," the Nobody murmured.

Sora stared back in confusion.

"Wha…what?"

"You can forget about me, forget I ever came here. It should be better that way," Riku whispered.

Then it came to him as a surprise when the boy's sad eyes hardened. Sora looked very, very…so very angry.

"What are you saying? How can I ever forget you! You jerk!" Sora wailed, crying harder. No sooner than Riku looked as if he was about to break, Sora was not given any more room for argument when Riku's face came closer. Fear finally hit in when he felt a sharp pain in the crook of his neck.

Riku'd once told him about how he could erase people's memory by draining their blood.

"Riku!" Sora gasped as his feet started instinctive kicking, trying to stop Riku, to no avail. He couldn't fight Riku's strength." NO! Riku! Don't!" His words didn't affect Riku and he panic. "I don't want to forget…GAH! I _don't _want to forget about you!"

His visualization slowly faded as the strength in his body ran out. The last thing he felt was the weight on his throat left, and something warm dropped on his cheek. With one last bit of strength and curiosity, he forced his eyes open once more and saw _someone _he _didn't _know above him. The person, he remarked with blurry vision, silver-haired, oceanic green eyes.

That person was in tears.

Then everything turned black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku didn't move away after the whole ordeal was over. He remained half straddling the unconscious boy, wiping off the boy's tears stain. Then he noted the droplets on Sora's restless face. He blinked a few times and realized they were coming from his eyes.

Disconcerting, he moved his hand from Sora's small ones and felt his own cheeks. He leveled his hand to his vision and his eyes went wide. He backed off from the prone boy, his still eyes fixed on his glove hands.

'_What the…' _

One whimper from the unconscious boy brought Riku back from his contemplating world. His eyes darted to the boy, realizing what he'd intended to do was half failed since he was supposed to be gone before the boy came to his full conscious.

Riku hastened to his feet and slid into the shady corner of the cave. Waiting in the dark he did, watching as the boy moved groggily.

With a few moans emitting from the boy, Sora got himself up. His dazed blue eyes glanced around as his head bobbed from side to side. Confusion written all over his face and he said to himself. "How did…I end up here?"

Knowing Sora, he expected the boy to get up, rambling more questions to himself, and leave in no time. So he found it deeply perturbing when Sora didn't do any of those. Instead, there were tears that threatened to slip from the corner of his eyes.

Not before long that Sora wept.

Riku could only stare.

Soon Sora dragged himself off along the passage. His weeping never stopped.

Riku's eyes darted between the door in the cave and the exit of the cave. War went on in his mind whether he should leave this world through the door to end everything or follow Sora who had been acting the way he wasn't supposed to. Exhaling, he decided to go with the latter and granted himself an excuse to check on the boy's condition first before he left.

Why was the boy weeping anyway? He had forgotten about Riku, right? Even if he cried now for whatever the reason, he still had his friends waiting outside to console him. Sora would be okay, right?

Riku had no idea that he was wrong.

He made it out of the secret place and silhouetted himself from the island occupants' sights. Casting a quick glance for Sora, he found the boy had staggered to a redhead girl who was sitting on the beach. Riku didn't move any closer, not wanting to risk his chances of being seen. Besides Sora and the redhead girl, there were also other three kids in vicinity. So Riku only settled to watch Sora. Any conversation there, he could make out by his inhuman ears.

The girl, who Riku recalled Sora had referred to as 'Kairi' turned and saw an approaching friend. Her earlier cheerful demeanor slipped into worried expression.

"What happened, Sora? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?"

It was a while that the girl continued to regard her friend with concern and Sora looked lost for the answer. Then at last he could manage something.

"I…I don't know, Kairi. I…it just…I really…don't know." Sora's small form hunched. "I'm…sad…I don't know why."

Riku was certain that Sora's memory about him was cleaned but it didn't mean that it was flawless. Only a part of him was vampire, he couldn't use the ability to a full extent if he wasn't in control with unwavered concentration. When Riku drained Sora, his emotion was in turmoil. The process could have messed up and the consequence was projected on Sora himself.

He could drain Sora again to complete the process, but he chose not to. Sora was only a kid, draining twice in short period of time could terrorize the boy's body. Moreover, he couldn't stand himself doing that _again. _Riku forced himself to turn back. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl and the other kids rounded up to comfort Sora. _'He'll be fine.' _With a fisted hand slackened to his side, he brought himself into the cave once more.

Being with Sora was one of the best things that had happened to him. They fought from time to time, but there was not a day that he regretted coming here and finding the boy. He wasn't too sure if that was still the case now when his heart ached like never before.

Riku opened the door and never looked back.

X

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora woke up with the wildest look on his face. 'I…I remember now…Riku and I…we've met before.'

Far away from Sora's house, the same thing dawned on Riku.


	10. Ch 8 the Last Goodbye

Oh sheesh, how long had it been? 2 years and 7 months since last updated. I've been distracted, but now that distraction is over with, I'm coming back again for KH phase. (Just because I've came across those KH BBS cut scenes with little RS).

Umm, well, anyone still reading? I know KH might not be as popular as it did few years back but I intend to finish this fanfic, as well as Squandered Opportunity and other KH fics. I plan to draw Doujinshi for these fics too. Do let me know what you think ^^!

There's a few changes made in previous chapter too. I'll put them as the bottom note.

**Saving Chapter 8 The Last Goodbye**

The memory…it all came back to him.

At that time when Sora was seven, Roxas wasn't there and he hadn't met Kairi and the others, but he wasn't lonely. He was with Riku.

He saw a younger version of himself on that remote island. Him, drinking up every word Riku spoke. Him, spending a night with Riku in the tree house, lying to his mother that he was with some friend. Him, taking off Riku's gloves, just so Riku could build the sand castle with him. Him, leaning into Riku's cold hand when he was burning with fever. Him, crawling onto Riku's lap and falling asleep. Him, proudly showing his test score to Riku who had helped him with his school lesson.

There _had_been Riku in his life.

Sora was up sitting on his bed, unable to go back to sleep, now that he remembered. His memory with Riku was something he'd treasured, yes. But he'd also remembered how Riku had made him forget. How it had left a hole in his heart until he had met Riku again.

_That was it…Riku had always been what his heart was calling for, all along. _

"Sora."

The voice pulling him out of his stupor, Sora turned to the voice across the dimly lit room where Roxas should have been sleeping. Obviously he was awake now.

"Can't sleep?" The older of the two asked. "It's about Riku, isn't it?" Underneath the concern for Sora, was the annoyance with Riku.

Sora almost winced at that. After all Roxas had been furious when he found out Sora was attacked by the Shadow, which took a while to calm him down.

Sora gave a tentative nod and straightened himself. He knew Roxas wasn't going to like this but still… "Roxas, I knew him when I was a kid." Sora could faintly make out an expression of Roxas who quirked an eyebrow. "I…dreamed of it… only I'm sure it wasn't a dream. It's a memory. When you moved to Twilight Town, before I met Kairi and the others, Riku had always been there with me."

As much as Roxas wanted to tell Sora off, he decided against it. He knew too well by now how Sora was when it came to Riku. How Sora had been up until now, even going against him for Riku. Telling Sora off wouldn't change anything. He pushed himself up and made way towards Sora's bed.

Roxas plopped himself down on the cushion and eyed his brother who looked back at him. He'd seen those eyes before, the very ones he'd seen in the mirror a while back there. Sometimes both of them were just exactly the same. Roxas sighed a little before speaking, "You reminded me so much of myself back there, I had so strongly believed in my feelings of trust towards him despite how much Hayner had warned me."

"You mean Axel?" Sora ventured and earned a nod but nothing further. He reflected on things, they were both attacked because of their associations with the Nobodies. Sora finally came to realize that things might be worse than he had expected.

"Sora. I fear for your safety, as well as Kairi's and the others. I will say this for the last time: Riku can't stay here. Soon, he has to go."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sora." Riku called aloud when he came to. Looking about, he found himself in the tree house. He placed a hand on his forehead. "So I've met him before."

It wasn't Zexion shaping his darkness into Shadows after all. It was his time being on this island. Back then he'd been with a seven years old Sora for six months, plus few more months as of now, that'd exceed the 358 days.

The Nobody sat up and reached into the pocket of his coat, pulling out a small cloth…his blindfold, the only material he carried with him. Somehow, with Sora around him, he had forgotten about it. He looked at it for a while, thinking, _'__Thought__that__I__'__d__never__have__to__use__this__again.__' _Sighing, he secured it around his eyes.

"Here…I'm done for." He murmured to himself. His decision of leaving the island was made.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Morning passed the next day, Riku seek Cloud and Vincent out. He found them under the shady tree at the isolated area in the outskirt. Once in front of them, the two set eyes on him, expecting his decision, yet they could sense the indecisiveness in Riku even with his blindfold on.

"What held you back?" Cloud asked knowingly.

"One of the Organization members approached me, asking, in his own way as in forcing, for me to join them," Riku answered. Sensing the other's attention for what he had to say, he continued, "He might hurt Sora."

"That kid?" Vincent recalled.

Riku nodded, his posture drooping.

Cloud's eyes softened, "I see, he's your light."

That made Riku turned at the blond with bewildered expression, both at Cloud's stance which held more sentiment than he had remembered, and at his words. To which Cloud's only response was a shrug.

"Have you considered erasing yours and his memory?" Vincent supplied, "If you need a memory wipe, you could use our help."

"That's one thing I'd like to avoid…if possible." He didn't tell them that he'd been down that road before which killed a part of him and Sora inside. For all it was worth this time, he'd like to hold onto his memory about Sora. "Aside from that, I have something in mind though. If all went well, I should be able to act according to Master Ansem's wish and leave Sora out of this."

"Figure out who the 'trusted friend' might be?" Cloud reminded.

"Yeah, I guess so," answered Riku, looking off to the side with pensive expression. In all honesty, Riku wished not to implicate himself in this, but the thought about Xemnas ruling the world, which he believed was the worst thing that could happen, obliged him to prevent it.

Most importantly…to protect Sora. Once he thought about this, he became aware of how much Sora meant to him.

He briefed his plan to the two elders, since he knew Zexion wouldn't just let him walk away and he needed Vincent and Cloud to know which side he'd be standing on under any circumstances.

…

"Hnnn, sounds like plan. I'll see what I can do." Cloud nodded, so as did Vincent.

Riku turned a surprised look at the two. He hadn't expected that they would agree to be of assistance right away, which made him wonder, "What happened to '_we__won__'__t__have__anything__to__do__with__it__'__?_No offense, just curious."

Vincent waved his hand, implying 'none taken' while Cloud answered for them both, "We can't agree with Xemnas, that's why. You can say that we have the same enemy."

Riku had to smile at that. "Good point." He studied both elders again and had to comment, "You two changed, especially you, Cloud."

The blond nodded, "I found my light."

"Yeah? I'd reckoned about that, the atmosphere around you seems lighter, considering how it used to be tense around you," Riku chuckled a bit at Cloud's expense.

Cloud shrugged again, but he was smiling. "I could say the same thing about you."

Riku let that sink in but didn't respond and instead, they got themselves back on track.

"Okay. Just to let you know. Those that Xemnas sent to find me were Axel and Demyx, they hadn't came to me until Zexion did. Also I've learned from YRP, whom I believ haven't paid you two a visit?" He waited. The two elders shook their heads confirming his point. Cloud and Vincent were normal Vampires and didn't literally carry darkness like the Nobody-vampires after all. The only darkness they might have had were inside their hearts which no one could track. "The YRP mentioned about Axel befriending with a boy in Twilight Town months ago. That boy happened to be Sora's brother, Roxas." Up until this point, it had Riku thinking along.

Now everything seemed to be coming out to the light. There was something about Axel and Roxas, then Roxas and Sora. His mind told him it was just a coincidence but the logic that was drilled into his being by his first Master told him otherwise. His first Master always stated that all things were connected. He doubted the reason he was at Destiny Island in the first place had something to do with this.

"What a coincidence, and now you, Axel's friend, have come here and befriended the brother of Axel's friend." Vincent said, his eyes looking out the horizon. "Small world, huh?"

"Anyway, if you ever run into Axel and Demyx, do tell them to come to me, I'll leave my connection open to them," Riku requested. Once they confirmed with an 'of course,' Riku bowed a little to thank them and left.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

At Destiny High, the school's field was occupied with the students of P.E. class. Roxas was one among them, jogging along with his peers.

Out of nowhere, a pebble was thrown in front of him. Roxas didn't heed any attention until the second pebble came flying. Thinking _'__it__could__be__from__anywhere,__' _he continued to jog until something hit his head. He let out a low groan, considering that it didn't hurt that much. Looking down at his feet, he found it was only a small stick of tree branch. Then his eyes searched around.

Behind the small trees and bushes across the field, he spotted a man in black with a hood, beckoning for him. Roxas made a face. _'__Couldn__'__t__be__anyone__else.__Good!__I__'__ve__got__something__to__say__to__him__too!__' _Without much thought, Roxas sneaked away from his obligation and headed towards the man in black. Once he was well out of the class's sight, he started, "Just the man I wanted to see! I can't believe you're still here after what your darkness has done to Sora. He's not with us, now's the chance to beat the daylight out of you-" Roxas stopped mid sentence when the other had his hood down. "Why the blindfold?"

"It's a way to contain the darkness inside of me. By shutting their eyes away, the Nobody-vampire's darkness can't take shape so you don't have to worry right about now. " Riku explained, glad that it could sidetrack the fuming boy for a while so he could continue, "Look Roxas. I know you're furious that my darkness has hurt Sora, and even Kairi. I apologize for that. I am leaving from here, tomorrow. I'll never return again. But first, there are things I need to know from you."

After Roxas's surprise of the news wore off, he responded, "and that is?"

"Tell me what happened to Axel the last time you saw him. Did you also see Demyx with him? Any idea where they might be right now?" This time, Roxas took a longer time to answer to which Riku added, "It has nothing to do with you, not again. I just need to see them and I don't know where they are."

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest, biting his lips. He looked away but did speak at last, "Can't help you with that. Once I finalized for him to leave, he left without much further ado. And yes, I've also seen this Demyx guy. Axel introduced me to him as his friend but we didn't see each other as much. Axel mentioned he's out on his own playing his Sitar in god knows where. I have no idea where they are right now."

"I see," Riku responded. He couldn't help but catch on…that Roxas was taking great pains not showing his sorrow when speaking about Axel when he claimed to be mad at him a while back there. _'__Maybe__there__really__had__been__something__about__them.__' _But it wasn't his place to say or do anything about it. If Roxas stood firm that it was the end, then it probably was.

Was Sora and him going to end this way too? So it would seem, soon.

"That all you wanted to ask? Before you leave?" Once Riku nodded, Roxas questioned with a mocking tone. "Finally realizing yourself guilty?" To Roxas's surprise, even to the point of shock, the Nobody's posture stiffened. He hadn't anticipated Riku's 'yes' as his head hung low like that. It seemed true enough to Roxas. Yet would he accept that as a fact? He hadn't been able to accept even Axel's apology back then. How could now be any different? Still…there was a voice deep down inside him saying _'__and__isn__'__t__that__what__you__regret__most?__'_ which he had to beat that voice down.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Riku said and turned to leave. "One more thing. After school, I'd like to have a word with Sora…alone. It's for the last time. Don't worry; I won't do anything bad to him. Then I promise not to bother you two ever again."

"And if I say no? Sora would only try to make you stay, even after all that has happened." Roxas crossed his arms over his chest. Though his tone showed no sign of stopping him, only implying that it was a try out question, which meant he found Riku's promise truthful.

"I will still see him. And I will still stand firm about my leaving," Riku assured.

Roxas offered the slightest form of nod. "If it were for the last time…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wanting to see Riku had been the only thing that distracted Sora from everything else since the day began. Once the last bell of the school rang, he was more than eager to leave. Roxas would have to stay longer for his project, Kairi had plans, which left him chance to meet up with Riku.

Just so Riku happened to be right there, waiting for him outside the school gate. He jogged up to him at that usual spot under the shady tree. Sora had been anxious to speak to Riku about his dream, but seeing the other looking worn-out under the sun, and even had his hood up, Sora asked him to come home. Oddly enough, both of them just walked in silence. Only when they reached Sora's house and stepped inside did Riku had his hood down because Sora had asked.

"Whoa. You've been walking around with blindfold on? How'd you do that?" Sora asked, bewildered.

Riku just answered in the same pattern he did with Roxas before his words were cut with his own laughter. Sora had just pulled a funny face right in front of him.

"Hey, I think you're still seeing!" Sora remarked and reached out to nip the blindfold right next to where it covered Riku's eyes. "Hmm, it's thick enough though…"

Riku mused at how Sora's simple gesture could make him feel lighter when earlier he was tensed for what he had to say soon. "I'm not really seeing as clear as daylight, so to say. Humans have five senses, right? As for me, I'm using the Nobody's thirteenth sense which is feeling people's aura, something like energy that you project."

"Umm, even my facial expression?"

"Even that. If you're happy, I feel happy energy. If you're sad, I feel that. Just now, I felt funny energy, therefore I laughed. Yeah, it's like I _see_ you, but not through my eyes. Does that make any sense?"

"Guess so…So the purpose is to keep your darkness inside of you?"

"Yes, it is."

"Is it good…or bad for you?"

The energy changed.

Riku didn't know whether he should be happy or not. Here Sora was again, worrying over his well-being. Riku gave a shrug. "It's not that bad." _'__The__only__thing__that__bothers__me__is__that__I__can__'__t__see__your__face.__' _

Scratching his cheek with one finger, Sora looked down with an awkward smile. "Oh well, that's good to hear." Then he led Riku to his room. Time to sit and talk.

"So you remembered," Riku started once he settled himself on the end of Sora's bed as it seemed the only space since Sora took the chair.

The younger boy regarded him with a nod. "You too." After the other nod, Sora encircled his arms around the chair's back-rest and rested his head on it. "No wonder I…like you this much, because there had been something between us."

"Why, I'm flattered," Riku joked, "But if memory serves, you as a seven years old had told me you liked me after an hour from when we'd met," Riku reminded. He meant it to be a gag, yet Sora looked back at him with the deepest expression of longing.

"Yeah, but that first time wasn't as much as six months after that or as much as _now_."

Riku was at a loss for words at Sora's honesty. It would only make things harder if they were to continue on about their feelings instead of his leaving.

"I feel the same way, Sora." And that was all he was going to give. "Still, what you and I have left unfinished with the talking yesterday…"

Meanwhile, Sora didn't say it aloud that it was weird and disconcerting to converse with blindfolded Riku. Made him wondered what kind of world Riku was living in with that bind securing his eyes. He found himself unable to look at the other, now fearing the subject of their conversation that was about to come.

Then along it came, much to Sora's apprehension.

"Sora, my darkness harmed you-" Riku hadn't finished when Sora interjected.

"I'm fine. You healed me, remember?" the boy said.

Riku caught an edgy tone in the boy's voice, but he couldn't stop. The urge to stretch things out was there. "They hurt your friend too."

"Kairi's fine." Feeling nervous, Sora's hands started to toy with a little plastic star on his desk.

"My darkness could do a lot worse than that. Moreover, _oof_-" Riku choked on his words when something flung right into his face. He reached for the assaulted object that fell on his lap; it was a star-shaped figure something. He veered his face to Sora's direction, already noticing the other stomping closer.

"Stop talking like it was your fault!" the brunet raised his voice.

Riku tilted his head up to where Sora must have been glowering down on him. "It's easy for you to say that. Things happened _because_I am here. Which part of it do you not understand?"

"Zexion was the one who shouldn't be here-"

"And if it's not to seek me out, he wouldn't have been here."

"Damn it, Riku."

They were both surprised at that. Sora wasn't a person so keen on cursing.

"Why does everything that goes wrong have to be an arrow pointing back to you, huh?" Sora questioned with scrutinizing tone.

The Nobody angled his face to the boy, asking, "You…really don't want me to leave, do you?" it was too right to the point.

Slouching, Sora craned his head to the side. He couldn't give a straight answer, yet…

"…You're my best friend. Since I was little, and up until now, you still are." _'…__since__forever__…'_

"I can't stay," Riku stated sharply. "What I've done in the past. Someday I'll certainly repeat the same thing again with the darkness I carry."

Finally, it came to something Sora would like to hear last. His hands outstretched to his sides, he wanted to say something…anything, but he was at a loss for words. All he could manage was a small "-But…" What could he say? There was no reason in the world he could use to reason with Riku. His hopes and plans of trying to_ '__figure__it__out__' _like he'd pronounced seemed so far out of reach. What could he possibly do when a strong Nobody-vampire like Riku or the proficient Hunters like YRP hadn't been able to sort them out before? He was only an island boy after all.

Sora never felt so useless before in his life.

Feeling negatives air leaking out of the boy, Rku reached for the boy's wrist which was within his arms reached. "Sora, you'll be fine without me, like you've been all along."

"Hah, what about those adventures? You've always talked big about those plans that we would go together," Sora brought up.

"Someday you'd discover your own adventures," Riku tuned away. "Last time, I couldn't keep my promise."

"You've kept your promise! You _came_back!" The brunet declared. "Do you seriously think I'd even find my own adventure! Who started it, Riku! Shouldn't you be taking some responsibility!"

"It'd only be the same as eight years ago."

"ARGHH!" Sora's hands shot up and tangled into his hair out of frustration. In consequence of that, they snatched Riku's dark collar. With law of gravity, Riku fell back on the bed with Sora looming over him. "For all I know, Riku. You erased my memory eight years ago, you had no frigging idea how many times I had to deal with the emptiness inside of me! You said so yourself you feel the same way. _But_you came back, and we even met again despite our lack of memories about each other! Was it all just a coincidence? Does this really make it the same as eight years ago!"

Riku fell silent. If he wasn't blindfolded, Sora would have seen how much Riku's eyes were expressing with what Sora had said.

Giving a frustrated growl, the brunet took a hold of himself. When he was about to push himself back, a hand abruptly snaked around his elbows, drawing him to the side. Sora lost his balance with the shove and he was flattened against the cushion of the bed instead. He gasped, feeling his hands were pinned down and his legs trapped against Riku's. He shot up a questioning glare.

Riku lowered his head towards the boy and said something that was more alarming even than the one about him leaving.

"You know what, Sora? I've been thinking about that, and you've just reminded me." He paused, feeling the small form underneath him tensed. "Last time you hadn't forgotten totally. Maybe I hadn't concentrated enough, but this time I will. Don't fret." _'__You__asked__for__it.__'_

"-wha?" Struggling, Sora attempted to break free. It only resulted in Riku's firmer grips. Limbs trapped, Sora ended up flailing, "You'll still come back like you did this time. There's no point-!"

"That's why this time I'll remember this. If I forgot I might come back again, absentmindedly. So I'll remember this time." Even if it'd leave a hole in Sora's heart. Sora left him no choice in this.

"No, Riku! Gah!"

His yell must have sounded so desperate that Riku had halted briefly. Sora anticipated Riku's backing off, but Riku only shifted one of his leg so he could move up a bit and had a better position to graze the boy's neck with his fangs. Yet, Sora's legs were untrapped momentarily. With the consternation that Riku _really_was going to do it, he drew his leg back and sent a hard blow right into Riku's stomach.

Caught off guard, Riku stumbled back with a groan. His hands having letting go of Sora's, came to press at his stomach instead. For a small boy like Sora, he did pack quite a kick. The boy just never gave up; this was getting on what little nerve he had left.

"Damn it, Sora." Riku cursed, his tone stern.

As soon as Sora propped himself up from the bed, he was again pushed back on to it. Riku was still fast despite the throb in his guts since Sora's assault only provoked Riku furthermore. This time round, Riku made sure he didn't leave any opening for Sora.

"Do you not think this is also hard for me! You've only made things bloody harder!" Riku reprimanded, coming face to face to the boy.

"If it's so hard then don't do it at all, you moron!" the boy returned.

Riku hissed and said no more.

Fear struck Sora with the fact that he couldn't possibly break lose again, he yelled as loud as his lungs could allow. "Riku, no! Don't!" he gasped loudly, feelings the tips of Riku's fangs grazing his skin which made his wail fade into a whimper. "Riku…_please.__" _

As if time had slowed down and stopped, Sora couldn't feel anything, like the weight on top of him had disappeared. What the myth said was true that the vampire's victim would feel such way when he was drained.

'_So this is how it feels…'_

Except that Sora never felt the fangs sink into his skin, but…a piercing shriek that filled his ears shortly after. Sora peek one eye opened by the time a stream of voice that was familiar to him sounded and no longer felt the weight on top of him.

"How could you! How dare! Sora trusted you!"

"Huh?" Sora gasped at the scene unfolded in front of him when he sat up. His lips parted as he gaped at his baseball bat being wielded as a makeshift weapon by no one other than Kairi, said weapon utilized against Riku who was on the floor across the room, crouching. He had one arm folding over his head where waves of hits were bestowed upon him.

"Kairi?" Sora uttered, unsure of the reality.

The girl sent a worried glance at Sora while she perpetually attacked _her_culprit. "Sora! Are you okay! Are you hurt!"

"Uh…no?" the boy answered out of daze as things were dawn on him. He hadn't been bitten yet. Kairi must have burst into the room, saw what had happened, flung Riku out then, and was killing him now with that sport equipment. Therefore, Sora's memory of Riku stayed.

"You, _pedophile!__" _the girl yelled angrily, as well managed to claw just to loosen the blindfold off. It fell halfway down and now revealed the utterly confused, oceanic-green eyes.

"What!" Both boys exclaimed at the same time, unsure if the word that Kairi used was related to the situation.

Sooner, Riku comprehended that the girl had misunderstood. Kairi didn't give him a chance to explain though, she continued sending never ending strikes upon his arm. The uncanniness of how the situation resembled how Sora had once reacted to him.

"I know I had a bad feeling about you! I knew it; you were trying to take advantage of him!"

"Am not!" Riku yelled between the blows. "Stop it already, lady!" When said lady declined to comply, Riku was lost for once. For one thing, he didn't want to hurt Sora's friend, given that he'd already did once albeit unintentionally. So his eyes shifted on their own, in search of Sora who still sat numbly with the equally baffled expression.

To Sora, it looked like Riku was in need of help more than ever. With Riku's eyes finally exposed to him now, showing something akin to a boy in distress. It made him laugh.

Concern over a friend's odd behavior in such circumstance, over beating the crap out of someone that harmed her friend, Kairi pitched the bat harshly at Riku one last time (which he blocked) and rushed to Sora's side.

"Sora! You okay!"

The boy looked at the girl's concerned features and at Riku who began to secure the blindfold around his eyes again.

Seeing Sora with no physical harm, Kairi followed his gaze and saw Riku's action. She immediately sprung up, one hand on her hip; another pointed an accusatory finger at Riku. "Don't you dare put the frigging blindfold on again! Not only are you pedophile, but a sicko!"

The silver head snapped at the girl's direction. "Quit condemning me. I'm neither a phidophile nor a sicko!"

"You tried to _rape_ Sora! And even with a blindfold! Oh my god!" the girl made a face, throwing her hands up in the air in infuriation.

"Am not! I have to contain the darkness inside of me!" Riku couldn't really grasp why he had to fall into bickering with Kairi.

"What the heck are you talking about! You're just trying to go off tangent!"

Another series of laughter emitted from the brunet quieted them. The two turned their attentions on Sora. Relief washed over Sora in the presence of Kairi but he'd have a lot to explain.

….

So the three of them sat in triangle.

"Okay, so I was here because I wanted to see Sora. When I reached the front lawn, I heard yelling from the window. That's why." Kairi went first, and shot a glare at Riku who sat idly. "Your turn, explain," she demanded, each words lined with fury.

Riku wondered why he even assembled with them when he could easily take them out and remove their memories. The answer that reached him was only because he couldn't. He didn't know exactly why, but it must have taken someone so heartless to flip them off at the same time. Moreover, what if he erased Sora's memory, and not his own? Zexion'd still know and could use Sora against him. Now that he knew erasing Sora's memory for the sole purpose of making Sora not sad about him would even make the boy sadder.

Still Riku was tempted with the idea of erasing his own memory. At least that way, Zexion wouldn't be able to use Sora against him. If it was for Sora's safety, he might as well allow a part of him to be killed with that. But then he'd never know what would become of Sora. Then he thought about his lost memory. When things regarded memory, one of his closest friends came to mind, but she was in another realm.

While Riku believed Sora only meant to brief Kairi about how he ended on top of Sora to clear the misunderstanding, Sora had no choice but to bring up their very first encounter as Kairi happened to spot the loopholes in the whole story.

And talking about their first encounter when Sora was very young, Kairi's eyes flashed in realization of something…very important. Riku had noticed that, while Sora didn't, but whatever it was…wasn't brought up.

Soon as Sora finished his tale, Riku leapt to his feet, only to be stopped by Kairi's calling, which was surprising to all of them. Before Sora could ask, Kairi started first.

"Sora. Do you mind me having a minute alone with him?" When the brunet looked between them uncertainly, Kairi assured, "Don't worry, I'm not going to stab him."

Sora sent a questioning glance to Riku, and Riku nodded. Sora pulled a confused smile, and left the room. As Kairi shifted her attention from the closed door to Riku, he spread one hand out, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Guess I haven't apologize that I misunderstood you," Kairi began.

The boy shrugged again, implying that it wasn't a big deal for him. "Apology accepted." When Kairi lapsed into silence but still regarded him with her eyes, Riku pressed, "Anything else?"

Nodding, the girl ran a hand through her hair, casting her glance sideways. "I…wish I wouldn't have to tell you this, I wish that you don't own any position in Sora's heart that I have to tell, but…" her gaze settled back to Riku. "Since now you're rightfully my competitor over Sora, I think you should know."

"Compe-titor…over Sora?" Riku articulated, one eyebrow raised. His face slowly adopted a smile, which faded into a smirk soon after. "I'm all ears long ago, lady."

"I'm trying! It's not easy," the girl snapped. "Only Sora's family and I know about this." She swallowed, and inhaled. "Five years ago, there was this grown up man who stalked Sora." She took in the sudden tension on Riku's features, but he didn't react, so she continued, "From what we know, Sora was the one who approached him first because that man looked…lonely."

Riku raised his brow. _'__How__uncanny__…__how__disturbing__…' _

"He was a sad man, he requested Sora's frequent visits after their first encounter. You know, Sora lacks the ability to turn anyone down. He trusted the stranger and even did as he was asked to keep their meeting secret. Weeks after, he took Sora somewhere…isolated." She leveled her gaze to Riku, "If I told you he was a pedophile, I believe you know what happened?"

A loud gasp emitted from the boy. His anger was visible to Kairi's eyes. Yet he refused to believe. "What happened?" he ventured, impatiently.

"No one came to save him."

A very awkward silence filled in before it was broken by Riku's curse.

"Damn."

"Riku…"

"Damn it. I should have been there."

Every line on Riku's face written pure rage. If his eyes weren't hidden under the thick fabric, the girl swore that she would have been scared. It was apparent to her that Riku looked ready to kill someone already.

"Where is he?"

'_And talking about ready to kill someone.' _

To prevent the approaching doom, Kairi took on blank expression and declared, "Look, I'm not finished."

"What?"

"I never said I was done," Kairi shrugged, making Riku wonder how could she slip into such casual demeanor while a moment ago she had been depressing herself. "Sora saved himself by getting out of there before the guy did anything to him. Well, if you count the groping off." Here, Kairi caught Riku's flash of anger. She didn't expect Riku to be so mad on Sora's behalf. It surprised her, as well as forming her trust in him. "At that age, we didn't understand what was done upon him, but Sora was afraid and he certainly was scared."

"Does that mark the end of the story? Where Sora was unharmed?" Riku ventured cautiously.

"It is, on Sora's part. If you want to hear what happened to that pedophile, I can also tell you."

The temperature in the room that was responsible for global warming earlier had now dissipated. Riku's tense appearance returned to his apathetic one.

"You were testing me."

Kairi rubbed the back of her neck, laughing slightly. "So you noticed."

Riku couldn't bring himself to be angry; he believed he would have if it was somebody else, but not Kairi. Was it because she was Sora's friend or her deep concern over Sora, he wasn't sure. "You know, I could have feigned my anger on behalf of Sora."

The girl waved her hand, and replied, "I'm gifted with the ability to tell whether it's true or false."

"But you didn't trust me earlier," Riku reasoned.

"Ah!" Kairi vocalized out of frustration. "No wonder Sora's so concerned about you! You're a mess inside. I'm only afraid you might get Sora involved in something he shouldn't." Here, Kairi spotted the change in Riku's posture, in only the briefest moment, but she didn't want to get into the matter. "Sora trusts you, that's that. Maybe I could trust you, maybe I already did. But I couldn't bring myself to trust that you could control your destruction or whatever is inside of you. I'm afraid you might hurt-" Upon Riku's countenance, Kairi didn't finish it.

"I…already did, and you were involved too. I have to apologize for that."

"Nah, I'm fine, just don't make it a habit. If you have that blindfold on, everything's gonna be fine, right?" Kairi waved and leveled her gaze to the boy. "You know, the only reason I'm not kicking you off right now is only because of Sora."

"I see. Your point in telling me all these…you don't want me to scare him off," Riku assumed as he angled his head back.

"Exactly. Sora barely reacted like someone undergone such circumstance and recovered fast, but I'd hate to see that resurface."

From Riku's recollection, he actually remembered touching Sora. There had been times when his hand sloppily slipped underneath Sora's shirt, mostly remaining at his stomach, when the boy slept on his lap. Or the time his hand brought the back of Sora's thigh up so the boy could sit properly on him. The boy hadn't whined or protested, he even seemed to like it; after all Sora was the very one who loved to crawl up on him first, claiming he wanted something (namely Riku) to cool his searing body in the scorching sun. As to why, Riku could figure it out later.

"And what happened to that guy then?"

"Sora's parents and I wanted to file a report, but Sora didn't want to. It's not because he was ashamed or anything, given that he didn't even know what it was that happened. But you know how Sora is, he's just too forgiving. Years later, Sora's parents found him working for children charity. He changed…because of Sora." A smile was plastered on Kairi's lips. It was written all over her face of how much she'd admired her friend, Riku noted.

So…just everyone _loved_Sora, and Riku was perturbed by that fact. He sighed at last. _'__He__'__ll__be__fine__without__me.__' _

"Well, that's all I have to say," Kairi finished.

"Is the reason you are telling me this concern us being competitor? Isn't that a little irrelevant?" Riku pointed.

Kairi smiled and shook her head, reflecting on her real reason. If Riku was serious about his feelings for Sora, which Kairi started to have a feeling that he did, he'd have to know it. '_Riku__'__s__the__missing__puzzle__in__Sora__'__s__heart.__Eight__years__ago__when__Sora__cried__without__an__apparent__reason,__it__was__Riku.__Riku__all__along.__' _Once she learned of that fact, she wanted to make things right for Sora.

Even without the girl's elaboration, Riku still caught on. Which brought a smile to his lips, only to fade away when he'd decided it was time. "As much as I'd like to accept your challenge of competing over Sora, I can't. I'm leaving the island tomorrow." When the girl turned to him with a brow quirked, he shrugged with a faint smile. "Does it sound like good news to you?"

It took Kairi a moment before answering slowly, "I wouldn't be sure about that. I've only started to trust you because Sora is so…happy." She turned thoughtful. "Is it because of the shadow?"

A nod, _'__also__Zexion,__and__a__message__from__Cloud__and__Vincent.__' _"I'm leaving whether Sora likes it or not. It's for the best." With that, Riku reached out and pat Kairi's hair. "Guess I'll have to leave Sora to you."

The redhead was stunned for a brief moment. She wanted to tell him off for treating her that way, but felt that he meant well.

Riku himself was as well surprised at his own act. Out of no where, he'd just felt affection for the girl, though it was far different from what he'd felt for Sora. "If we've met under a different circumstance, we might have been good friends…and having fun competing over Sora," he chuckled at that last one.

"Heh, probably," Kairi laughed along. "So I guess it's a good bye to you then?"

"Yeah."

"Kairi studied him, weighting his sincerity and finally said, "Alright. I believe I should leave you with Sora for some alone time. But! Don't do any misdeed to him or you'll be so dead right where you are!" She mocked a threat, but underneath it was her real note.

"Yes ma'am." Riku drawled. Once the redhead left the room and went downstairs to fetch Sora, Riku rubbed his forehead. He'd made his decision, yet he almost feared the thought of saying good bye to the boy. Riku could only hope a fifteen year old Sora wouldn't behave the same way he had as his eight year old self.

However, those ends never showed up to him.

"Riku!"

A panicked voice and the sound of a girl stumbling up the stairs cut through his thinking. He hurried out of the room, sensing a horrified look on the girl's face. Something was wrong.

"Sora…Sora's been kidnapped!" the girl wheezed out.

Riku's breath was caught in his throat. He strode fast to the girl, and placed on hand on her shaking shoulder. "Tell me what happened."

"He was just outside the lawn. I called him but there was a guy appearing out of nowhere. He told me to tell you about this before he disappeared into some kind of…dark hole, taking Sora with him!" Kairi paused, taking a breath, then she willed herself to finish, "He has the same attire as you. He came to Sora once at school. Riku, what is this all about? Sora struggled so hard. Is that guy a threat? Is Sora going to be okay!"

'_Zexion.__' _Riku bit his lips and spoke, "Kairi, stay in the house, okay? I will bring Sora back, I promise." Once the girl swallowed her fright and nodded, Riku rushed out of the house via the open window. He noticed that it was getting late. Not knowing where to look, Riku tried the connection and felt it…Zexion was heading to the remote island.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just as the sun began to sink from the horizon, Riku reached the remote island. He trailed after the faint voices.

"Gah! Let go! What do you want with me!" Sora kept struggling with his hands gripped behind his back by Zexion. He had to grit his teeth, coming to an understanding of the strength of an extraordinary man.

"Fighting is futile," Zexion remarked in cold voice.

"Sora!" Riku called out, reaching where they were, which was the cavern entrance.

Sora was initially glad about Riku's arrival, only to frown deeply once realization hit him that he was being _conveniently_used by Zexion to draw out Riku.

"I had a feeling you were going to make a wrong decision, given Ansem requires you back on his side as well. Thus, I'm here to give you a little…motivation," Zexion drawled.

Nailed to the spot, Riku knew he wouldn't be able to level this man. Not now, especially when Sora was in his hand. He thought hard, this was a little different from what he'd had in mind. But all in all, when it all came down to it, it wouldn't make much of a difference. "I was already motivated in making my decision. So you can let go of Sora _now_."

"And that is?"

"I'll join the Organization, now let him go."

"Riku!" the brunet retorted.

A pleased smile appeared on Zexion's lips, "I take it that you're a man of your word. So here…" he shoved the small brunet forward.

Sora stumbled into Riku's waiting rms. As soon as Riku held onto his arms, Sora whipped his head up. "Riku!"

"Shut up, Sora," The silver-haired boy demanded as he fixed his glare on Zexion to avoid Sora's searching eyes.

"But it isn't something you want!"

"Shut the hell up, Sora!"

The yell made the smaller boy cower, and Riku gritted his teeth, frustrating at his own actions. Then he directed at Zexion, "I need your word that neither you nor the Organization will hurt Sora in anyway once I join."

"Of course," Zexion smile sweetly, an act.

Riku doubted if he could trust his words. But what else could he do? There was no escape. His only priority now was getting Sora out of harm's way and nothing else.

"Now come," Zexion beckoned as he headed first into the cave, trusting Riku to follow.

"Riku…" Sora called in dejected voice as he fixed one hand to Riku's arm, looking up at him.

The Nobody pried Sora's hand off of him, only to hold Sora's arms with his own instead. "I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble." Riku was well aware that Sora had just been through Zexion's Dark Corridor. Only once wouldn't allow the darkness to stain him but still, this was the second time he put Sora through contact with darkness. When the boy's expression turned sad, Riku softened. "Sora, don't be sad. You got your life to live. Forget about me, okay? Now go home, Kairi's waiting for you. And Roxas'd probably worried sick at this time." Then Riku suddenly felt the door inside the cave open…which he mentally cursed, _'__Zexion__…' _ No more time, Riku released the boy's arms with a "Good bye, Sora."

Sora was left stunned with the farewell right there when Riku headed into the cave. For passing seconds, he kicked himself to move, and pursued his friend.

…

Sora made it in time when the door was barely open. His eyes caught the sight of silver behind the closing door. He rushed to it, throwing his hands ahead to stop the door which caused the person on the other side to look out to where Sora was.

"So…Sora?" Riku stammered, not expecting the boy to be fast enough to catch up with him. Already on the other side, Riku had his blindfold off.

"Riku…you'll be coming back, right?" Sora bent in closer, unable to cross the boundary. He could only assume that Riku was applying pressure on the other side. At this point, he could see everything behind Riku. There was nothing but darkness, shadows and huge creatures with human anatomy, yet they were not human with hollows in the shape of a heart where its real heart should be.

It struck Sora for the first time as to what kind of a world Riku lived in. "Ri…Riku! What are those things! You should come out!"

Riku growled when Sora yanked at the door, his strength suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Riku looked over his shoulder and threw, "Hold them back!"

Another figure behind the door caught Sora's eyes, he believed it must be Zexion. He couldn't care less, his eyes reeled back to Riku. "Riku! Come on out!"

"Dammit, Sora," Riku addressed the boy. "Must you always be a nuisance to deal with?" He smiled painfully with a slight hint of sheer amusement. He thought everything with Sora was well over, he had said his good bye although without the returning gesture from Sora. Then the boy just came popping up.

"Riku, you can't expect me to hold them off all day!" Shouted Zexion from behind.

Terror welled up inside of Sora as he started to panic. "Ri-" his call was cut short when he was yanked forward slightly by the collar, his lips were clamped shut by Riku's own. After he drew back, he gave Sora his final smile as he gently pushed the boy back.

"Take care, Sora."

That was Riku's last words before the door was closed in Sora's face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Changes I made: I got rid of the idea about NV staying longer than 358 days and the darkness will take shape. Darkness will take shape only when it is willed by NV and the frequent use of dark power.


	11. Note about upcoming KH Doujinshi

First of all, thank you for reading and reviews so far. Just drop by to note that I'm doing doujinshi for my 2 KH fanfiction, Saving/Squandered Opportunity. Guess I'll do better in doujinshi than in writing. I'd also like readers to voice which of the two I should go first. Please visit: http: /bonbonpich . /1747 . html *delete spaces*

Or you could find a link from my profile with LiveJournal under the name of 'bonbonpich' Other KH doujinshi/fanart are also there.

Thanks! Sorry this is not a new chapter, but from what I've seen, not too many people are reading this. So yeah, doujinshi could be better


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